A company's intrinsic expertise, ingenuity and savoir-faire are what makes it unique, marketable, and ultimately successful. When combined, these somewhat tenuous qualities, form part of the company's intellectual property. How then does a company protect them in...
The South African Government introduced the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act No. 51 of 2008 (the IPR-PFRD Act) in order to provide for effective identification, protection and utilisation of intellectual property (IP)...
The much-anticipated 2023 Netball World Cup is headed to Cape Town, South Africa from 28 July to 6 August 2023 and will be the first Netball World Cup to take place on the African continent. Hitting the headlines this week was the news that Discovery has withdrawn...
Round 3 was decided with Clover winning the war (despite losing a battle along the way) after a favourable decision was recently churned out by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA). Readers may remember that the writer first reported in June 2021 that Clover’s urgent...
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) of South Africa recently delivered a judgment in a trade mark infringement case between iCollege (Pty) Ltd (“iCollege”) and Xpertease Skills Development and Mentoring CC (“Xpertease”). The Court found that Xpertease’s use of a mark...
On the 26th of April 2023, the world celebrated World Intellectual Property Day. This annual observance is dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of intellectual property (IP) rights and their contribution to innovation and creativity. This year's theme,...
According to WIPO’s international patent filing statistics, the number of patent applications filed in South Africa in 2022 jumped by 63.9% compared to 2021. The South African Patent Office records indicate that this growth was mostly attributed to foreign applicants,...
There are many reasons why a South African entity may want to assign or transfer ownership of their intellectual property (IP) offshore. One reason may relate to the current economic and political instability, whilst others may be motivated to do so in an effort to...
Ed Sheeran’s victories continue to multiply, after a New York jury recently ruled that his song, Thinking Out Loud, does not infringe the copyright of well-known American song, Let’s Get It On, written by Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend. This 100-million-dollar claim was...
Africa is a vast continent and is often underestimated, both from a business but also from a brand protection perspective. Africa’s land mass exceeds that of India, China, the United States and Europe combined. It is also the second most populous continent, with over...
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