Full 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 MoreA Diamond in the Rough – Technology and the Copyright Amendment Act
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 achieving a grade that would admit it to the Introduction to Copyright Law 101 examination. However, it is noteworthy that the Bill contains a set of provisions that is worthy of (limited) praise and deserving of closer analysis. These are, among others, the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act...
Read MoreIP Licensing Short Course – An Absolute Must
The Licensing Executives Society (LES) of South Africa will present its one day short course L.E.S 101: Introduction to Licensing in Stellenbosch on 20 August 2015 at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study. This course, aimed at everyone with an interest or role in IP rights management, commercialisation and/or technology transfer is an absolute must for any brand owner or manager. See below for the full programme. The course will equip all attendees with a thorough and accessible introduction to the particular legal and practical skills required to effectively and comprehensively...
Read MoreClean Power Technology Protection
As the pressure on “going green” increases internationally, eyes are turned to the protection of intellectual property and its mechanisms and particularly the question as to whether the World Trade Organization agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) should include special flexibilities for access and dissemination of environmental sound technologies such as they occur in the fields of health or nutrition and how can this be of benefit? It is argued that the IP system has been associated with some limitations with regards access or spread of technologies and while...
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