Renew Direct

Renew Direct lets you pay the renewal fees for a South African patent online. Enter your patent number, choose how many renewals you would like to pay, and pay by credit card. Sibanda & Zantwijk then pays the renewal fees at the South African Patent Office (CIPC) and sends you the renewal receipt by email.

If you expect to keep the patent alive for at least the next 3-4 years, it makes sense to pre-pay all future renewals. The future renewal costs are heavily discounted and pre-paying these future renewals shields you against future increases in official renewal fees. The South African Patent Office has already indicated that it intends significantly to increase South African patent renewal fees. Even if you do not pre-pay all future renewals now, seriously consider doing so before the anticipated official fee increases come into effect.

No, S&Z does not need to change the agent (i.e. address for service) to process a patent renewal. Apart from paying the renewal, nothing will change on your patent.

Renew Direct only renews South African patents. South African trademarks and designs are best renewed through PayAnnuity.com.

Renew Direct processes renewals immediately upon instruction, provided that the South African Patent Office’s system is up.

Before accepting a renewal instruction, we check that: the patent can be renewed; there are no pending renewals that have already been submitted but not completed; and the Patent Office’s system shows all previous renewals as “paid”.

No. You only need your patent number and a credit card. We ask for your name, email address and billing address when you pay, so that we can send you our invoice and the renewal receipt.

To keep renewal costs low, we need to automate the process and ensure payment for each renewal processed. For this reason, the system can only receive payments by credit card.

Renew Direct provides pricing in US$, as most of our clients are outside South Africa. However, due to South African laws, we can only accept credit card payments in Rands. We therefore convert the US$ amount to Rands upon payment. However, we calculate the exchange rate so that you should not pay any more in US$ than is quoted on the system.

If we already manage renewal of your patent, Renew Direct will only permit you to pay for 1 or all remaining years. Else, conflicts with our renewal system may arise. However, where we do not manage your patent renewal, we upload the patent to our renewal system with the correct “next renewal date” and therefore can process any number of renewals on Renew Direct.

When you click NEXT, Renew Direct retrieves current patent data. This usually takes 15–30 seconds. If any of the details shown are incorrect, please contact us before paying.

Paying several renewals at once saves us administrative work every year, and we pass that saving on to you. The more renewals you pay in advance, the lower your average cost per renewal - paying all remaining renewals brings the average down to $25 per year.

The amounts in the table include the CIPC official renewal fees and our professional fee, but exclude VAT. VAT at 15% is added to our professional fee only if you are in South Africa.

Yes, if the renewal date passed less than six months ago. South African law allows a six-month grace period, during which the renewal can still be paid with a late-payment penalty. Renew Direct adds a US$50 surcharge to the first renewal to cover the penalty and our additional work. After the six-month grace period, the patent lapses and can no longer be renewed.

If we pay a patent renewal and future renewals remain payable, we will add your patent to the PayAnnuity renewal system, which will send email reminders as future renewals fall due. Future renewals can then be processed through the PayAnnuity system.

Renew Direct can only process a renewal if all earlier renewals have been paid. If the CIPC register shows an earlier renewal as unpaid, this needs to be resolved with the South African Patent Office first using the agent that previously paid your renewals. Also, Renew Direct cannot pay renewals for provisional patents, as they do not attract renewals.

The official fees payable for South African patent renewals are: Years 4, 5 and 6 R130; Years 7 and 8 R85; Years 9 and 10 R100; Years 11 and 12 R120; Years 13 and 14 R145; Years 15 and 16 R164, Years 17 and 18 R181; and Years 19 and 20 R206. Penalties for late renewal are R90 for the first month and R50 for each additional month (up to a maximum of 6 months in total). Note: “Year 4” corresponds to “Annuity 3”.

We email you our invoice as soon as you have paid, and send you the CIPC renewal receipt within a South African business day.

Renew Direct is a service of Sibanda & Zantwijk, a South African firm of patent attorneys.

PayAnnuity is South Africa’s leading patent renewal service, managing renewal of +15,000 South African patents. You can create an account, add patents to your portfolio and receive renewal reminder emails 6 months, 3 months and 1 month before the renewal deadline, without cost. PayAnnuity offers highly competitive renewal rates for: South African patents and trademarks, Nigerian patents and trademarks and OAPI trademarks.