Freedom to innovate – did Government get the message?
On 27 April, Freedom Day, we will pause to mark the most significant moment in South African history and commemorate the day when freedom, above all else, became the nation’s guiding principle. The day before, World IP Day, we celebrate the achievements of our brethren that influence our every-day lives and the ability of free human intellectual endeavour to improve our lives. In recent years, Freedom Day celebrations have been reduced to the favourite grandstanding occasion for politicians. While celebrating, many public figures will repeat the customary refrain of this day – remark...
Read MorePerformers’ 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 MoreCriminal Plants – New Plant Breeders’ Rights Bill
Editor: Among the various pillars of the intellectual property law, perhaps the most esoteric is that of plant breeders’ rights. Despite its significant scientific and economic role, this peculiar and highly specialised field is unfamiliar to most outside the field of IP law. It is therefore with pleasure that the Chair of IP Law reproduce here a post on the Plant Breeders Rights Bill of 2015, which first appeared here on the website of Spoor & Fisher. Most appropriately, this insightful review of the Bill is written by David Cochrane, author of the chapter on plant...
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,...
Read MoreBraking With Tradition
INTRODUCTION As will be apparent from perusing the articles posted on this blog indicated by the keywords “traditional knowledge”, The Vine Oracle has been forthright in its criticism and condemnation of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill which seeks to introduce a special form of protection for so-called “traditional knowledge” into each of the Trade Marks, Copyright, Designs and Performance Protection Acts (the Bill is commonly known as the “Traditional Knowledge Bill”). The Vine Oracle has been the proponent of the viewpoint...
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