Performers’ Protection Amendment Bill Commentary
Prof Karjiker’s comments on the draft the Performers’ Protection Amendment Bill [B24-2016] (the “Amendment Bill”), are submitted to the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry (the “Portfolio Committee”) pursuant to the invitation of the Portfolio Committee. These comments will focus on the interaction between the Performer’s Protection Act 11 of 1967 (the “Principal Act”) and the Copyright Act 98 of 1978 (the “Copyright Act”). However, the comments also raise matters of concern present in the Amendment Bill. The full text of the comments appear below, and may...
Read MoreNo Trade Mark Protection for Rubik’s Cube Puzzle
Discussion: Court of Justice of the European Union; November 10, 2016, Case 30/15, Simba/EUIPO (full text here). In this case the CJEU could further clarify how to apply the rule of European trade mark law providing that trade marks that consist exclusively of a shape or other characteristic of a product that is necessary to obtain a technical result cannot be protected. The decision is interesting for South African trade mark law, since section 10(5) of the Trade Marks Act contains an almost identical rule. Simba, a...
Read MoreA Diamond in the Rough – Technology and the Copyright Amendment Act
The Copyright Amendment Draft Bill (GG No 39028, 27 July 2015) (‘the Bill’) is by all accounts a grave misfortune and a study in amateur law-making. Enough has been said on this point to make it clear that the DTI has tripped at the first hurdle and that a re-evaluation is the only hope of achieving a grade that would admit it to the Introduction to Copyright Law 101 examination. However, it is noteworthy that the Bill contains a set of provisions that is worthy of (limited) praise and deserving of closer analysis. These are, among others, the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act...
Read MorePromotion and Protection of Investment Bill, 2013 – A Review
On 1 November 2013, the South African Department of Trade and Industry published the draft “Promotion and Protection of Investment Bill” (the “Draft Bill”) for comments. The Draft Bill comes shortly after South Africa decided to unilaterally terminate its bilateral investment treaties (“BITs”) with certain European states and specifically Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Germany, Spain and Switzerland. The Draft Bill is intended to promote investment by modernising the current investment regime and getting investors, whether foreign or local, to achieve...
Read MoreClean Power Technology Protection
As the pressure on “going green” increases internationally, eyes are turned to the protection of intellectual property and its mechanisms and particularly the question as to whether the World Trade Organization agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) should include special flexibilities for access and dissemination of environmental sound technologies such as they occur in the fields of health or nutrition and how can this be of benefit? It is argued that the IP system has been associated with some limitations with regards access or spread of technologies and while...
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