Recently, the Registrar of the South African Patent Office published a practice note updating the formality requirements for assignments in patent applications. Previously, where an International PCT application claims priority from an earlier filed application in a...
Authors of copyright protectable works retain certain rights despite not being the owners of such copyright By Daniëlle van Deventer The issue of relinquishing copyright ownership in an original piece of writing, an artwork or a musical composition is a complex and...
Trade mark protection is crucial for any brand owner, but it can sometimes create practical difficulties from a business perspective. When new trade mark applications are published by registries, information about a company or a brand owner’s new product or service is...
Videotape, Escalator, Trampoline, Laundromat[1]. What do all of these words have in common? They were all once legally protectable trade marks which, due to the way in which they were used, have lost their distinctiveness and since become ‘generic’. But what does...
After extensive investigations into a company importing and selling counterfeit branded roller bearings, the Adams & Adams Anti-Counterfeiting Team assisted the HAWKS (SAPS) with simultaneous search and seizure operations in 3 Provinces. More than 1 300...
The Advertising and Regulatory Board (ARB) recently handed down a decision holding that the videos posted by comedians Skhumba Hlophe and Celeste Ntuli had breached the code on South African advertising. Hlophe and Ntuli uploaded videos on their Twitter accounts,...
In Thermos Hong Kong Limited v Doshi Ironmongers Limited (Civil Appeal (Application) E013 of 2021) [2022] KECA 544 (KLR), the Kenyan Court of Appeal had to determine whether a party had a second right to appeal an appellate decision from the High Court in relation to...
On 29 June 2022, the Assembly of the Republic approved the new Copyright Law of Mozambique, Law 9/2022. The new law came into force on 26 September 2022. The new Copyright Act is aimed at promoting and safeguarding the protection of literary, artistic and scientific...
The Constitutional Court declares provisions of the Copyright Act unconstitutional The Constitutional Court of South Africa has declared the Copyright Act unconstitutional to the extent that it limits or prevents persons with visual and print disabilities from...
The Senate has adopted a draft law establishing the Congolese Industrial Property Office. With the establishment of the Industrial Property Office, the aim is to provide technical assistance to local economic operators, researchers and inventors preparing documents to...
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