Following its comprehensive review and comments submitted on the 2015 and 2017 versions of the Copyright Amendment Bill, the Chair of IP law has again submitted comments on the 2018 version. The full text of the Chair’s comments, authored by Proff Sadulla Karjiker and Owen Dean, is available for download here. Download written comments
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
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 […]
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 […]
Prof Sadulla Karjiker and Dr Madelein Kleyn recently submitted the following comments to the DTI on the Draft IP Policy Phase 1 2017. The full text of the IP Chair’s commentary may be downloaded here. Introduction The Department of Trade and Industry published the Draft Intellectual Property Policy of the Republic of South Africa Phase I […]
“Whether copyright protection protects tastes has been stirring up emotions in European legal circles for some time. Some say that such protection would be contrary to the idea-expression dichotomy, the notion that ideas and principles underlying any element of a work can never be protected. Others argue protecting taste would negatively affect free competition, among […]
It is about time! Great news for those in need of new, good fiction in the courtroom drama sub-genre with a truly South African perspective – the new book The Summit Syndrome has just been published by Authorhouse UK. And the best part – it is set as a copyright infringement case authored by the man who knows […]
The legal research group of the African National Congress held a workshop in Sandton on 14 October 2017 to discuss the Copyright Amendment Bill 2017 with input from a panel of experts and questions from the attendees. The panel included the current Chair of Intellectual Property Law at Stellenbosch University, Prof Sadulla Karjiker, and the […]
“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 […]
The Chair of IP Law has submitted its commentary on the 2017 Copyright Amendment Bill, version B13-2017, published by the Department of Trade and Industry on 16 May 2017, pursuant to Government Gazette (Notice 799 of 2017 (GG 40121, 5 July 2016). The full text of the Chair’s comments, drafted by Prof Sadulla Karjiker and […]
