The verb “extort” means “obtain (money, a promise, a concession, etc.) from a reluctant person by threat, force, importunity, etc.)” The noun form, “extortion”, means “the act or an act of extorting money etc.” (The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary published by Clarendon Press, 1993). Requiring someone to pay copyright royalties for a manner of […]
History has taught us that the South African Government, and the Legislature in particular, will not hesitate to make bad law. The volume of carelessly drafted, ill conceived, unconstitutional and overtly political laws that the public has been force-fed in recent years is so great that recourse to the Constitutional Court has become a pedestrian […]
Prof Frederick Mostert, extraordinary professor at Stellenbosch University and Academic Fellow of this Chair, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Luxury Law Summit 2014 for his contribution to the luxury industry according to a report by the Global Legal Post here. Prof Mostert’s career as legal professional includes many significant contributions to legal development […]
Afropop Worldwide, the radio programme and online magazine dedicated to music from Africa, interviewed Prof Dean about his personal experiences during the protracted Mbube/Lion Sleeps Tonight case, how he managed to persevere despite a myriad of obstacles and his book on this case. The interview is part of the Hip Deep special programme series funded […]
Innovation and creativity are inextricably linked to the protection of intellectual property (IP). It is therefore essential, in order to promote the sciences and useful arts, that all content creators and stakeholders be aware of the legal mechanisms for the protection of IP and its application to their work. The Chair of IP Law, in […]
THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED Please contact us for a transcript of the lecture. The Chair of Intellectual Property Law will present its annual public lecture on 15 April 2014 with Dr Frederick Mostert, Chief Legal Counsel for the Richemont Group of companies which include Cartier, Montblanc, Alfred Dunhill and Van Cleef & Arpels. The topic of Dr […]
The long-awaited South African draft National Policy on Intellectual Property (the draft IP Policy) which was published on 4 September 2013 (read the policy here) has recently led to an unfortunate furore in the press. On 17 January 2014 Money MSN published a report based on a document that was leaked from the Innovative Pharmaceutical […]
The erstwhile Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill (“IPLAB”), generally known as the “Traditional Knowledge Bill”, became an Act when it was published in the Government Gazette as having been assented to by President Jacob Zuma on 10 December 2013. This despite vociferous objection from the IP community and other informed sources. (Read more about IPLAB […]
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 […]
The publication of the South African National Policy on intellectual property (SANIPP) in September 2013 has opened a proverbial can of worms and the Pharmaceutical industry is up in arms. The SANIPP proposes the introduction of stronger IP rights through the introduction of, amongst others, pre-and post-grant opposition proceedings, and makes reference to the introduction […]
