Trademark application support

Q: How much does a trademark cost in South Africa?

CIPC charges R590 per class applied for, paid by you into your own CIPC account. Our search, class selection, application preparation and guided lodging is a fixed R1 990. Most small businesses need one or two classes.

Q: Who actually lodges the application?

You do, and that is a legal requirement rather than a choice. CIPC allows only the applicant or a practising attorney to lodge a trademark application, so we prepare everything and then take you through the submission screen by screen on a call. It takes about twenty minutes.

Registering the company does not protect the name; plenty of businesses learn that from a competitor's letter. We search the register, work out the right classes and prepare your application in full, then take you through lodging it at CIPC on a guided call. Fixed price, in writing.

R1 990plus CIPC fee R590 per class, paid by you to CIPC · ready to lodge within 5 business days

Trademark application support costs R1 990 at ProperSA. That is our fixed service fee; government and authority fees are charged at cost on top. Turnaround: our part is done within 5 business days. If you give us everything we ask for and we still fail to deliver what this page promises, we refund our fee; a refusal by the authority is not refundable.

What is included

A search of the trademark register for identical and confusingly similar marks, with a written risk note
Class selection: which of the 45 trademark classes actually cover your goods and services
Your specification of goods and services drafted for each class, which is what decides how much your mark actually protects
The complete application prepared, then lodged with you on a guided call, because CIPC allows only the applicant or a practising attorney to lodge
Examination progress tracked and CIPC correspondence forwarded with plain English explanations
A straight referral to a trademark attorney if your mark is refused or opposed, before more money is spent

What a trademark actually gets you

A registered trademark gives you the exclusive right to use your name or logo for the goods and services in your classes, and the legal standing to stop lookalikes. Protection runs from the filing date, lasts ten years and renews indefinitely. Company registration, a domain and social media handles give you none of that; they are addresses, not rights.

Who is allowed to lodge a trademark application

This one catches people out, so it is worth saying plainly. The Trade Marks Act allows a trademark application to be lodged only by the applicant themselves or by a practising attorney. Anything lodged by anybody else is treated by CIPC as invalid from the date it was lodged, and the official fees are forfeited rather than refunded.

That is why we prepare everything and then lodge it with you rather than for you. You are a South African applicant, so you are entitled to lodge in your own name, and we sit with you while you do it. You click submit in your own CIPC account; we do not operate your account. If you would rather it was completely hands off, we will bring in a trademark attorney to act as attorney of record and quote their fee at cost on top of ours.

How ordering works

Order online with the button below and pay securely by card or instant EFT (PayFast), or wait for the EFT invoice.
Complete the short online form waiting in your client portal: the mark, where you use it and what you sell.
We search first and give you the risk note and the recommended classes before anything is lodged.
We prepare the full application, then book a short call and take you through lodging it in your own CIPC account, where you pay the R590 per class directly to CIPC.
The price you see is the price you pay plus the exact CIPC fee, and if you give us everything we ask for and we still fail to deliver what this page describes, we refund our fee. A refusal by the authority, or a delay caused by missing information from you, is not refundable. Full rules in our terms.

Start secure order

Not sure this is the right one for you? Ask us first and you get a written answer within one business day.

What we will need from you

A trademark application stands or falls on how precisely it is framed, so these details matter more than they look.

The exact mark you want protected: the word, the logo, or both. Spelling and spacing are part of the mark.
A clean image file if a logo is involved.
What you actually sell or do, described in detail. This sets the classes, and classes decide the scope of your protection.
The owner’s details: the registered company name and number, or your full name and identity number if you are filing personally.
When you first used the mark in trade, if you have already been trading under it.
Any conflicts you already know about, including anyone who has objected to your name before.

Frequently asked questions

Does registering my company at CIPC protect my business name?

No. Company registration only stops another company registering the identical name. Only a registered trademark gives you enforceable rights over the name or logo for your goods and services.

How much does a trademark cost in South Africa?

CIPC charges R590 per class applied for, and you pay that into your own CIPC account rather than to us. Our search, class selection, application preparation and guided lodging is a fixed R1 990. Most small businesses need one or two classes.

Who actually lodges the application?

You do, and that is the law rather than a choice we made. The Trade Marks Act allows only the applicant themselves or a practising attorney to lodge a trademark application, and CIPC voids anything lodged by anyone else and keeps the fees. So we do every part that takes judgement, the search, the classes, the wording of your goods and services and the whole application, and then we book a short call and take you through the submission screen by screen. It takes about twenty minutes and nothing gets typed wrong.

Why not just file it for me?

Because it would be worthless if we did. An application lodged by someone who is not the applicant or a practising attorney is treated as invalid from the day it was lodged, the official fees are forfeited, and you would lose the filing date that the whole exercise exists to secure. If you want it entirely off your hands, say so and we will bring in a trademark attorney to lodge as attorney of record and quote you their fee at cost.

How long does trademark registration take?

CIPC examination commonly takes many months, sometimes more than a year. Protection runs from your filing date, so filing early is what matters, and a registered mark then renews every ten years.

What if someone opposes my trademark?

Oppositions and examiner refusals are legal proceedings where a trademark attorney should act. We tell you upfront if your mark looks risky, and if a dispute arises we say so and refer you rather than pretend.

Contested trademark matters are referred to a trademark attorney.