Great Listening: Discourse on the Copyright Amendment Bill
Prof Sadulla Karjiker, the incumbent Chair of IP Law, joined Hugh Melamdowitz, partner at Spoor & Fisher, and Wiseman Ngubo, head of legal and business Affairs for CAPASSO (Composers, Authors and Publishers Association) on Classic FM 1027’s Classic Business to discuss the diversity of views on the latest draft of the Copyright Amendment Bill. Listen to the podcast below or click here to visit the...
Read MoreIP Rights perspective: Ubuntu Baba v Woolworths
Prof Owen Dean discussed the recent controversy about the Ubuntu Baba baby carrier and a similar Woolworths product with Azania Mosaka on 702 Radio to explain how IP rights may find application in similar circumstances. You can read extracts of the interview, or listen to the full interview below, or visit the 702...
Read MoreCopyleft Amendments to Copyright
So called “state capture” is a concept which currently dominates current public discourse. It represents the usurpation and domination of the powers of the state by the Zuma/Gupta alliance. State capture, albeit in a different form, has occurred in the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in regard to its custodianship of intellectual property. Beginning in the late nineteen nineties, with the advent to power in Trade and Industry of Minster Alex Erwin, a “third force” has assumed control of this important area of the law with untoward consequences to its well-being. The third force...
Read MoreThe technical function exclusion in design law
The DOCERAM/CeramTec-case (C-395/16) is the first case dealing with the meaning of the “technical function” exclusion in relation to Community designs. The CJEU’s judgment provides an interpretation of Article 8(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 6/2002 on Community designs (the “Regulation”) – and hence, indirectly, also of Article 7(1) of Directive 98/71/EC on the legal protection of designs – which provides that “a design right shall not subsist in features of appearance of a product which are solely dictated by its technical function.” Such...
Read MoreIs Plagiarism Unlawful?
INTRODUCTION “Plagiarism” is a much misunderstood and misused term in common parlance. In layman’s terms it is generally used to convey the notion of copying or reproducing the work of another in a clandestine manner. Although it is not specifically mentioned or perhaps even considered as an element, by implication it entails such misuse being without permission. It is often used as a synonym for, or in lieu of, “copyright infringement” and it is generally thought to amount to the same thing. Supposedly, being copyright infringement by another name, it would naturally be unlawful....
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