The Plagiarist on Trial – a legal perspective on plagiarism
In an attempt to circumscribe the range of “nefarious conduct”[1] that may amount to plagiarism, many resort to a discourse on ethical standards,[2] literary technique,[3] institutional values, citation methodology, copyright infringement[4] or theft.[5] Although these discussions, at least in part, approach a grasp on what plagiarism means, none are acceptable from a legal perspective. Moreover, while reliance is placed on moral considerations instead of the law, the intolerable risk remains that cases of plagiarism will be adulterated by the myriad of personal details, factual...
Read MoreIP Public Lecture 2018 – Patent Enforcement Lessons for SA Policy Development
THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED Watch the video of the lecture below. The annual Intellectual Property Law Public Lecture, presented by the Chair of IP Law and the Faculty of Law, will take place on 16 August 2018. Prof. Dr. Christoph Ann will deliver the lecture on the topic Patent Enforcement – lessons for SA policy development. He will discuss the link between a meaningful patent system and the ability to effectively enforce patent rights. In light of the proposed changes to the South African patent system, his topic is particularly relevant and will include lessons learned by the EU patent...
Read MoreFull Stop Ahead: Public interest in blocking digital content
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 this tension, might serve South Africans well, if observed with care. First, the recent ruling of the General Court of the European Union in Constantin Film Produktion GmbH v EUIPO[i] made it clear that aural vulgarity could be a bar to the registration...
Read MorePatents and Public Health – The New Frontier
The long-awaited South African draft National Policy on Intellectual Property (the draft IP Policy) which was published on 4 September 2013 (read the policy here) has recently led to an unfortunate furore in the press. On 17 January 2014 Money MSN published a report based on a document that was leaked from the Innovative Pharmaceutical Association South Africa (IPASA), an industry lobby group comprising the local subsidiaries of innovator pharmaceutical companies. The document is a plan for a campaign prepared by U.S.-based consultancy Public Affairs Engagement, to delay and modify the...
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