Paralegal

• Administer the company’s global portfolio of plant variety rights, plant breeders’ rights, patents, trademarks, domain names, and related intellectual property matters
• Maintain accurate intellectual property management system records, including applications, registrations, ownership, status, deadlines, official documents, correspondence, and supporting evidence
• Monitor filing, prosecution, renewal, maintenance, opposition, response, and statutory deadlines
• Coordinate filings, applications, recordals, renewals, assignments, and ownership or address changes with external counsel and intellectual property agents
• Verify filing instructions, applicant and breeder information, priority details, specifications, denominations, goods and services, specimens, powers of attorney, declarations, and supporting documents
• Track testing, examination, novelty, priority, denomination, DUS, deposit, and commercialization information for proprietary varieties
• Support office-action, examination-report, information-request, objection, and other prosecution responses under counsel direction
• Maintain variety parentage, breeder and applicant details, commercialization dates, ownership documentation, assignments, and territorial protection records
• Support trademark clearance, application, prosecution, registration, renewal, recordal, and maintenance activities
• Collect trademark specimens and evidence of use; monitor renewal and declaration-of-use requirements
• Assist with trademark watches, oppositions, office actions, coexistence matters, brand-use questions, and online or marketplace enforcement
• Maintain trademark schedules and ownership records for licenses, agreements, audits, enforcement, and reporting
• Provide regional administrative support to the department
• Prepare schedules, chain-of-title records, powers of attorney, assignments, declarations, authorizations, and legalization or notarization packages
• Conduct preliminary legal and factual research and prepare matter summaries, chronologies, portfolio reports, and status updates
• Support intellectual property due diligence, audits, acquisitions, divestitures, licensing transactions, disputes, and enforcement matters
• Assist with document holds, evidence preservation, investigation files, oppositions, cancellations, infringement actions, and other proceedings
• Review external counsel and agent invoices and maintain cost and budget records
• Coordinate courier services for intellectual property documents and maintain confidentiality and tracking records
• Manage hardcopy files of signed documents and ensure records are complete, current, and accessible

Paralegal jobs in South Africa

IP Administrator, Paralegal