Intellectual Property Law and How it Applies to Sport Events
In this special World IP Day article, Prof Owen Dean revisits the theme of IP rights protection for sporting events in South African law, with a focus on the developments and the Cricket World Cup 2019 as an example. Introduction Major sports are big business and vast sums of money are involved in staging sport events. This global trend was brought into sharp focus in South Africa during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The 2010 FIFA World Cup provided an excellent example of the role that branding plays in major sports, and how it can benefit the organisers of major sporting events and the...
Read MoreThe 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 MoreBeating About The Rooibos
It is a fact of life that attempts have been made in certain other countries to usurp control of the term or mark ROOIBOS, despite the fact that it is a well-known South African description for a particular plant which gives rise to ROOIBOS tea. The term ROOIBOS is as typically South African as “braaivleis” and “biltong”. It is really part of our South African heritage. The South African authorities have nonetheless taken no concrete or effective steps to protect and control the use of this term in South Africa or elsewhere. Probably the first attempt to hijack ROOIBOS in...
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