SOUTH AFRICA Law and Practice Contributed by: At van Rooy, Annelise Engelbreg, Ursula Baravalle and Stuart Miller, KISCH IP
Rule 16A of the High Court, the court may decide to involve an amicus curiae under spe- cific circumstances where it is deemed neces- sary to assist the court in making an informed decision. In this context, when a case involves highly technical, scientific, or otherwise special- ised knowledge that goes beyond the expertise of the judiciary, the court may invite experts to offer their insights as amicus curiae. Examples include cases involving intellectual property disputes, environmental issues or intri- cate financial matters. 4. Revocation/Cancellation 4.1 Reasons and Remedies for Revocation/Cancellation Revocation of a patent may occur through the following grounds: • the patentee is not a person entitled to apply for the patent; • the grant of the patent is in fraud of the rights of the applicant or of any person under or through whom he or she claims; • the invention concerned is not patentable (ie, is not new, inventive or applicable in trade or industry, or is on an exclusion list); • the invention, as illustrated or exemplified in the complete specification concerned, cannot be performed or does not lead to the results and advantages set out in the complete specification; • the complete specification concerned does not sufficiently describe, ascertain and, where necessary, illustrate or exemplify the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed in order to enable the invention to be car- ried out by a person skilled in the art of such invention;
• the claims of the complete specification con- cerned are not (i) clear or (ii) fairly based on the matter disclosed in the specification; • the prescribed declaration lodged in respect of the application for the patent or the state- ment lodged concerning traditional use contains a false statement or representation, which is material and which the patentee knew or ought reasonably to have known to be false at the time when the statement or representation was made; • the application for the patent should have been refused on the basis of being contrary to law or morality, or because the patent is frivolous; or • the complete specification claims as an invention a microbiological process or a product thereof, where the provisions of such have not been complied with. Revocation of a registered design may occur through the following grounds: • the application for the registration of the design was not made by a person entitled thereto; • the registration of the design is in fraud of the rights of the applicant or of any person under or through whom he or she claims; • the design in question is not registrable; • the application for the registration of the design contains a false statement or repre- sentation, which is material and which the registered proprietor knew was false at the time when the statement or representation was made; or • the application for the registration of the design should have been refused due to a lack of formal compliance.
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