The Iziko South African Art Gallery is currently featuring an expedition entitled “A Centenary Celebration of the life and work of Barbara Tyrrell”. Barbara Tyrrell is a South African artist and author and the exhibition comprises a selection of over 150 of her highly decorative and accurate visual reproductions of Southern African tradition costumes and […]
Gallo Music and Sting Music have locked horns in the South Gauteng Division of the High Court over copyright in certain songs named Thula Baba, Unomathemba and Siliwelile. Gallo claims that it owns the copyright in these songs and that Sting therefore required their authority to include them in the stage musical Umoja and that […]
INTRODUCTION Intellectual property is commonly regarded as an esoteric branch of the law. It is characterised by being complex and until recently it has been a little understood and somewhat discrete area of the law. Its complexity stems from the fact that it has as its subject matter intangible items such as marks, ideas, concepts, […]
On the Internet there is only one thing that really matters – prominence. It is the nexus of all factors that drive the ever-expanding cyberspace. In this world, the attention span of every visitor is measured in seconds, and the amount of traffic to a specific website measured with scientific precision. It is, therefore, not […]
Copyright law had its origins in the 18th Century when the need was felt to protect the investment of printers in carrying out the new-fangled process of mass production of books. Its ambit was extended over the years to cover additional forms of works such as musical and artistic works and then in the 20th […]
The age old proverb says “there is no smoke without fire”. The legislatures of several countries are about to turn this proverb on its head. The anti-smoking lobby has gained such strength in these countries that the fire brands of the anti-smoking lobby with their fiery rhetoric have moved governments to do their utmost to […]
Two related United States Bills were recently the topics of much controversy. Public outcries and widespread online protests were followed by an unprecedented Internet blackout on 18 January 2012. The Internet blackout was supported by the likes of Google, Facebook, Reddit and Wikipedia to name but a few. The blackout was not only supported by the Internet […]
We are all familiar with the old academic adage, “publish or perish”, but when commercialisable research outputs have associated potential intellectual property, any published or presented outputs from the research prior to filing patent applications can result in a minefield for the patent applicant. There are two important intrinsic requirements for obtaining a patent for […]
Can Food Recipes be Patented in South Africa? Cookery has become one of the most popular past times of the last few years. This is illustrated by the enormous popularity of TV shows such as “Masterchef” and “Come Dine with Me”; and cookbooks by celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson. This leads […]
The Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) has ruled that retailer Woolworths must stop using the phrase GOOD OLD FASHIONED as it imitates beverage manufacturer’s “GOOD OLD FASHIONED SOFT DRINKS” advertising slogan. In 2006, beverage manufacturer Frankie’s Olde Soft Drinks (“Frankies”) launched its FRANKIES range of drinks. The range was based on “vintage” flavouring, which was emphasised […]
