Walsh v Sheeley [1911] ZATPD 1 (10 January 1911)

Patent - lnvention - Previous publication - Knowledge - New combination of old ideas - Proclamation 22 of 1902, sect.5

If the secret of an invention has been previously publicly communicated to the world, either by the inventor or someone else, the invention is not patentable.

The communication may be made by means of a drawing, as well as by means of verbal description.

To determine whether an invention involves a new idea or not, the invention 'must be viewed in the light of the knowledge possessed by people, engaged in the class of business for which the invention is designed, at the time of application for a patent for the invention.

A new combination of old ideas, brought together in a way involving no ingenuity, is not a patentable invention.

A mere carrying forward or new or more extended application of the original thought, a change only in form, proportion or degree, the substitution of equivalents doing substantially the same thing in the same way by substantially the same means, with better results, is not such an invention as will sustain a patent.