Provisional and Complete Specification
If a South African inventor applies for a patent, the application is accompanied by a provisional or complete specification. A provisional specification is lodged at CIPC if the inventor is still testing or developing the product or process. The provisional specification affords temporary protection for 12 months, extendible locally for three months, and forms the basis for a complete patent application and foreign patent applications. Once the invention has been fully developed and tested, a fresh patent application, with complete specification, is filed. If the product or process has already been technically finalised from the start, only a complete specification is lodged.
Read more about this topic: South African Patent System
Famous quotes containing the word complete:
“No man, said Birkin, cuts another man’s throat unless he wants to cut it, and unless the other man wants it cutting. This is a complete truth. It takes two people to make a murder: a murderer and a murderee.... And a man who is murderable is a man who has in a profound if hidden lust desires to be murdered.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)