The Copyright Amendment Draft Bill (GG No 39028, 27 July 2015) (‘the Bill’) is by all accounts a grave misfortune and a study in amateur law-making. Enough has been said on this point to make it clear that the DTI has tripped at the first hurdle and that a re-evaluation is the only hope of […]
On 27 July 2015 the Department of Trade and Industry (“the DTI”) published the Copyright Amendment Bill 2015 (the “Amendment Bill”) in the Government Gazette, asking for public comment within 30 days from such date. Given the number of issues contained in the Amendment Bill that needs to be addressed, it will be almost impossible […]
You wait ages for a reported judgment concerning “needletime” royalties pursuant to section 9A of the Copyright Act, and then two come along at approximately the same time. There were two reported decisions, one, an enquiry by the Copyright Tribunal, and, the other, a judgment by the Supreme Court of Appeal following an appeal from […]
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 […]
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 […]
Warner/Chappel Music, a music publishing company in the United States of America, claims and exerts copyright in the ubiquitous song “Happy Birthday to You”. It requires that royalty payments should be made to it each and every time this song is sung or used in public. This is a startling proposition as most people probably […]
“The world isn’t our stage” was a title used for an article by Prof Owen Dean about infringement of Copyright. Friday 26 April was World IP Day and the world was our stage. The Chair of IP Law and the Faculty of Law along with the South African Federation Against Copyright Theft (SAFACT), Microsoft SA, […]
Following Prof Dean’s address to the Cape Town Press Club last week, several reports appeared in the media referring to the very real problem of internet-driven copyright infringement in South Africa and the lack of legislative measures (or even attempts by Government) to address this problem. Prof Dean was also interviewed by Radio France International on […]
Following the publication of Prof Owen Dean’s latest book, “Awakening The Lion – The Case Of The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by Tafelberg, and the University’s subsequent press release (available here), our incumbent chair of IP has been inundated with requests for an interview with him from various members of the media. It is not surprising that […]
Professor Owen Dean’s much anticipated book, “Awaking the Lion – The case of The Lion Sleeps Tonight” has been published by Tafelberg Publishers. It takes the form of a so-called “short” book and is only available electronically as an e-book from Amazon, Kobo, Kalahari and Leisure Books. The book tells the story behind the story of a […]
