News & Insights
SHOULD LEGAL PRACTITIONERS CLAIM ADVICE TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS AS COMMUNITY SERVICE?
Since the promulgation of the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, on 22 September 2014, legal practitioners waited for the day that the Minister of Justice would promulgate the hours for community service. That day came on 3 May 2022, eight years later. The proposed regulations were published for comment by the Minister of Justice, […]
May 16 2022
Court Changes divorce act
On 11 May 2022 the Pretoria High Court ordered that Section 7(3)(a) of the Divorce Act, 70 of 1979, is declared inconsistent with the Constitution and invalid to the extent that the provision limits the operation of Section 7(3) of the Divorce Act to marriages out of community of property entered into before the commencement […]
May 12 2022
GHANA - UPDATE ON STRIKE ACTION
All services at the Industrial Property Office (IPO) and the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) are suspended due to Strike Action. Some of these services include the making of payments, filing of applications, prosecuting matters and following up at the RGD and the IPO for all intellectual property matters. We are informed that the reason behind the strike concerns […]
May 12 2022
Poivre de Penja - Cameroon’s First EU Geographical Indication
Poivre de Penja, more colloquially referred to as Penja Pepper, is a unique tropical pepper that is cultivated on the volcanic slopes of the Mount Kupa in the Penja municipality of the Littoral region of Cameroon. Poivre de Penja is a rare and highly sort after pepper due to it cultivation and flavour notes. Poivre […]
May 12 2022
Protecting your rights and interests when the authorities fail to act
Jan-Harm Swanepoel recently represented the interests of a client and the firm in securing an order from the High Court for the imprisonment of a Respondent based on a Contempt of Court Order. The First Respondent embarked on a series of serious intimidating, threatening and defamatory conduct against a client of the firm and even […]
May 04 2022
ETHIOPIA: Increase in official publication fees
The Ethiopian Press Agency announced a sharp increase in publication fees in response to declining economic conditions in the country. The Ethiopian economy has been adversely affected by the ongoing civil war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, and international developments, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Press Agency’s new tariff affects all publications, including intellectual property […]
May 03 2022
DEADLINE FOR MANDATORY RECORDAL OF IP RIGHTS IN KENYA EXTENDED TO 1ST JANUARY 2023
Dear Clients and Colleagues, On the 26th of April 2022, the Kenyan Anti-Counterfeit Authority (“ACA”) published Public Notice, No. 1/2022, in which it announced a deadline for the recordal on the Anti-Counterfeit Authority Integrated Management System (“AIMS”) of all goods bearing Intellectual Property Rights being imported into Kenya. That Notice required that all Intellectual Property Rights Holders to record […]
May 03 2022
BIOPROSPECTING IN SOUTH AFRICA
INTRODUCTION South Africa has a biodiversity of 10% of the world’s plants; 7% of the world’s reptiles, birds and mammals and 15% of known coastal marine species. Over and above, South Africa is a rich source of traditional knowledge concerning the use of biological resources for the healing of ailments and the like. (Bioprospecting Regulatory […]
April 22 2022
ADAMS & ADAMS INSURANCE DEPARTMENT: TAILOR-MADE PACKAGES FOR SMES & INDIVIDUALS
Insurance provides cover for losses arising from insured events which may happen in the future. Against an agreed premium, the risk of an insured event arising is transferred from the insured to the insurer. Insurance is, therefore, a critical risk mitigation component to both businesses and individuals alike. In practice, insured events triggering insurers policies […]
April 21 2022
A positive step for the Border Management Authority”
It is a well-known fact that counterfeit and illicit goods trade is causing an immeasurable harm to an already struggling South African economy. In 2019, his excellence President Cyril Ramaphosa in particular acknowledged the severe negative impact that this phenomenon has on the local economy and pledged that government would do more in an attempt […]
April 20 2022
Adams & Adams participates in the Experiential Learning Programme for SSE patent examiners
Adams & Adams participates in the Experiential Learning Programme for SSE patent examiners The Department of Trade and Industry’s draft Intellectual Property (IP) Policy of South Africa seeks to provide a co-ordinated approach on IP matters by the national government through the implementation of structural and legislative reforms within South Africa’s IP landscape. As part […]
April 14 2022
The Metaverse and trade marks – new world, same rules?
In October 2021, Meta shared a video on YouTube entitled “The Metaverse and How We’ll Build It Together — Connect 2021”.[1] Around this time, the company also announced its rebranding from Facebook to Meta.[2] The new company name seemingly signifies its focus on building the Metaverse. In the said video, Mark Zuckerberg refers to “an […]
April 14 2022
HEAVY RAINS & FLOODS: WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY?
Weather conditions of any sort have direct effect on the insurance industry. The severity thereof is, however, of particular significance for the industry, as the possibility of insured risk materialising heightens. At this point in time, this is particularly relevant in South Africa given the ongoing heavy and persistent rains. There have been reports, images […]
April 13 2022
Ghana - Strike Action comes to an end
We are pleased to report that the industrial strike action undertaken by the Registrar General’s Department and Industrial Property Office on 20 January 2022 has been called off and the Registry is back to full operational capacity
April 12 2022
Kenya - Roll out of the Anti-Counterfeit Authority Integrated Management System (AIMS)
On 23 February 2022, the Anti-Counterfeit Authority announced that they had concluded the migration process to the Anti-Counterfeit Authority Integrated Management System (“AIMS”), an online platform developed to facilitate the process of the recordal of intellectual property rights, and that the system would be rolled out on a pilot basis from 28 February 2022. The […]
April 12 2022
OAPI - Certain class headings under the International Classification of the NICE Agreement will no longer be accepted by OAPI
Certain class headings under the International Classification of the NICE Agreement will no longer be accepted by OAPI[1] On 28 February 2022, the Director General of the Organisation Africaine de la Propriete Intellectuelle (“OAPI”) issued a Circular Notice informing all users of its systems that with effect from 01 January 2022, certain class headings, which […]
April 12 2022
Egypt -New Financial Technology (Fintech) Law and Regulations
On 14 February 2022, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi signed the country’s first Financial Technology Law, No. 5 of 2022 (“the FinTech Law”) into law[1]. The FinTech Law is aimed at introducing the long-awaited rules governing the provisions of various non-banking financial services/activities by “concerned entities”, through technological mediums aligned with the Egyptian Government’s […]
April 12 2022
Egypt - Decrease in the Committee of Opposition’s turnaround time for decisions
Recent developments at the Committee of Oppositions in Egypt have resulted in a drastic reduction in the time taken for the Committee to render decisions. Whilst in the past it was common practice to wait in excess of a year for the Committee of Oppositions to render a decision, the Committee is now regularly rendering […]
April 12 2022