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 MoreMaXhosa v Zara
Prof Owen Dean recently discussed the likelihood of legal action by Laduma Ngxokolo against fashion house Zara for infringement of the MaXhosa by Laduma designs. The interview with Prof Dean was broadcast on 702 radio as part of the Night Talk programme hosted by Gugulethu Mhlungu. You can listen to the interview here. Featured image source: http://www.maxhosa.co.za/about Follow Share on...
Read MoreFull Stop Ahead: Public interest in blocking digital content
It makes for the perfect ideological storm when IP law and ICT law meet and the right to freedom of expression stands in the way. Capitalist and socialist, activist and pacifist, pragmatist and idealist: differing legal experts abound in the battle for, or against, IP rights in the digital environment. Two recent developments which illustrate this tension, might serve South Africans well, if observed with care. First, the recent ruling of the General Court of the European Union in Constantin Film Produktion GmbH v EUIPO[i] made it clear that aural vulgarity could be a bar to the registration...
Read MoreBEPS and Intangibles: How does it impact IP tax structures?
Intangible assets constitute a major value-driver for multi-national enterprises (MNEs). This is even more so for companies that rely on valuable intangibles rather than physical assets to generate financial returns. Intangibles such as patents, design, trademarks (or brands) and copyrights are generally easy to identify, value and transfer and as such attractive for multi-national tax planning structures especially as these rights usually does not have a fixed geographical basis and is highly mobile as a result can be relocated without significant costs. Many MNEs utilize IP structuring...
Read MoreIP: Politics and Beyond
“Critics of intellectual property law are apt to resort to sweeping generalisations about the unacceptable social costs of intellectual-property protection. First, as is the case with many issues concerning indigenous knowledge, these critics, who seek to undermine the property rights established by intellectual property law, often resort to making rather emotive, and sensational, claims, but find it difficult to substantiate their criticisms with good evidence, other than for anecdotal tales. Second, critics of intellectual property fail to realise, or acknowledge, that intellectual...
Read MoreFreedom to innovate – did Government get the message?
On 27 April, Freedom Day, we will pause to mark the most significant moment in South African history and commemorate the day when freedom, above all else, became the nation’s guiding principle. The day before, World IP Day, we celebrate the achievements of our brethren that influence our every-day lives and the ability of free human intellectual endeavour to improve our lives. In recent years, Freedom Day celebrations have been reduced to the favourite grandstanding occasion for politicians. While celebrating, many public figures will repeat the customary refrain of this day – remark...
Read More
