Posts Tagged "mistake"

Unveiling The Wolf

Posted on Feb 11, 2014

Unveiling The Wolf

The erstwhile Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill (“IPLAB”), generally known as the “Traditional Knowledge Bill”, became an Act when it was published in the Government Gazette as having been assented to by President Jacob Zuma on 10 December 2013. This despite vociferous objection from the IP community and other informed sources. (Read more about IPLAB here, here, here and here.) The general consensus was that the Bill was fundamentally flawed and an abominable piece of legislation. Issue was not taken with the notion that traditional knowledge requires improved protection, but...

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The Winning Choice For Traditional Culture

Posted on Jul 20, 2013

The Winning Choice For Traditional Culture

Note: Seldom will the VineOracle descend into the dust of the arena, even when the winner is known to her in advance. But on this occasion she considers it necessary to expound upon the recent developments in IP legal development for the sake of those who care to learn. Here is her report on the match between two opposing, albeit ill-matched, forces seeking to use the intellectual property law system for the protection of traditional knowledge. In 2004 the Cabinet  approved the adoption of a policy on Indigenous Knowledge Systems, known as the IKS Policy. Pursuant to this the...

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Letting the Copyright Cat Out Of The Bag

Posted on Apr 22, 2013

Letting 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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Braking With Tradition

Posted on Nov 30, 2012

Braking 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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A New Tradition In Legislation

Posted on Sep 28, 2012

A New Tradition In Legislation

The South African government has created a new tradition in drafting and processing legislation through Parliament.  This tradition manifests itself in the drafting of half-baked legislation with little or no regard to the provisions of the Constitution and then fighting a huge public outcry against the legislation on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. In some instances the government  then concedes that aspects of the legislation are unconstitutional and it seeks to undertake the revision of that legislation on the floor of Parliament in an attempt to circumvent the claims of...

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