The Rooibos Rush
South Africa is no stranger to the fever that accompanies the discovery of gemstones or precious metal in a particular region. Indeed, for decades the mineral riches of our nation were legendary across the world and the object of several battles for imperial, colonial or feudal control over the diamond, gold, platinum and coal fields of South Africa. As a testament to this, the foothills of Table Mountain is home to the Rhodes Memorial dedicated to the fervently imperialist, English mining magnate Cecil John Rhodes, former Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, founder of De Beers Consolidated...
Read MoreHOT OFF THE PRESSES – Sui Generis TK Bill Published In The Gazette
Roll up and hear the good news! Today the new sui generis Protection of Traditional Knowledge Bill was published in the Government Gazette, signalling a major step toward the protection of traditional knowledge (TK) in South Africa. Full text of the Bill available here. This Bill is based on the Protection of TK Bill drafted by the incumbent of the Stellenbosch Chair of IP Law (CIP), Prof Owen Dean, and was tabled in Parliament by Dr Wilmot James earlier this year amid widespread and serious criticism of Government’s current attempt at protecting TK through the Intellectual Property Laws...
Read MoreTrampling Tradition – A Call For Support
The Stellenbosch Chair of Intellectual Property (CIP) has repeatedly, thoroughly and honestly expressed its views on the proposed Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill (the Traditional Knowledge Bill) in no uncertain terms. Its labours have included extensive research on the consequences for our IP regime if it was to become law, the financial, legal and practical difficulties our legal system will face in its wake and the dismissive attitude of the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry toward every legitimate concern from the public. The incumbent Chair even went so far as to attend...
Read More“Awakening The Lion” – Portraying The Tip Of The Iceberg
Professor Owen Dean’s much anticipated book, “Awaking the Lion – The case of The Lion Sleeps Tonight” has been published by Tafelberg Publishers. It takes the form of a so-called “short” book and is only available electronically as an e-book from Amazon, Kobo, Kalahari and Leisure Books. The book tells the story behind the story of a copyright saga that made international headlines, and gives Prof Dean’s first-person account of the pioneering and proudly South African case that made legal history. It deals with the saga of the song, Mbube, which later became the...
Read MoreIP Heirlooms – Testamentary Assignment of Digital Contents
Recent media reports raised several questions about the transfer of so-called digital “property” by means of a testamentary bequest. These digital works include e-books, songs, videos, movies, applications and other forms of intellectual expression recorded in digital format and distributed to end-users by means of web traders such as Kalahari, Amazon and Apple iTunes. According to these reports, individuals who sought to provide for the transfer of their personal collections of digital works after their death found that the law does not specifically provide for such transfer of...
Read More
