Government’s reflections on the world of Intellectual Property
INTRODUCTION Have you ever basked in the warm sunshine of a glorious summer’s day, in daydreaming mode, and allowed your mind simply to wander at random? You start with a thought, you turn it over in your mind, and then a point is reached where you go off at a tangent and muse over some largely unrelated thought, only to be diverted in yet another direction. Eventually you may go the full circle and come back momentarily to the point of departure, before heading off again elsewhere. Daydreaming can be a very pleasant experience and it has the beauty that you do not have to make any...
Read MoreNews Media: Prof Dean on plain packaging
In the past three days, six articles appeared in six different national newspapers referring to Prof Dean’s landmark inaugural lecture at Stellenbosch University regarding the unconstitutional impact of Government’s proposed ban on tobacco branding on trade mark property rights. Prof Dean was also interviewed on this topic by 702 Talk radio (listen here) and 567 Cape Talk (listen here) on this topic. The full text and podcast of Prof Dean’s inaugural lecture is available here. Click on an image to enlarge: CAPE ARGUS – 29 May CAPE TIMES – 31 May DIE...
Read MoreInterview: Prof Dean on Cape Talk
Prof Dean was interviewed by Kieno Kammies for 567 Cape Talk radio today (31 May 2013) on World No Tobacco Day. Prof Dean discussed why Government’s proposed ban on tobacco branding (by means of plain packaging) is unconstitutional and amounts to brand genocide. The interview relates to his inaugural address and subsequent publications. This interview followed on Prof Dean’s previous interview with 702 Talk Radio (listen here). You can listen to the interview on Cape Talk radio here. Description (from Cape Talk): Prohibiting trademarks amounts to brand...
Read MoreInterview: Prof Dean on The Money Show
Prof Dean was interviewed by Bruce Whitfield on 702 Talk Radio for “The Money Show”. The topic of the interview was Five reasons: Why prohibiting the use of trademarks on tobacco products makes no sense. This interview followed on the topic of Prof Dean’s inaugural address at Stellenbosch University. You can listen to the radio interview here: Follow Share on...
Read MorePodcast: Prof Dean’s Inaugural Lecture
On 21 May 2013 Prof Owen Dean delivered his inaugural address at Stellenbosch University to a select audience of 130 academic peers, University officials and delegates. The topic of Prof Dean’s address was “Deprivation of Trade Marks through State Interference in their Usage”. The full text of Prof Dean’s article is available here. The illustrations used during the lecture is available here. You can listen to the lecture here. (NOTE to on-campus users: Open Inetkey to listen to the recording). Follow Share on...
Read MoreLetting the Copyright Cat Out Of The Bag
The almost endless capacity of government to waste valuable resources by embarking on half-baked, and socially costly, ideas never ceases to amaze me. What makes the situation deeply troubling (and, not just a little, ironic) is that they sometimes spend money employing consultants to tell them that they are wasting money on these enterprises. If that were the extent of government’s failure in relation to its policy shortcomings, I could, perhaps, shrug my shoulders and attempt to be philosophical about such matters. However, when government then proceeds to ignore (and, possibly,...
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