Bringing you the latest news and views from across Africa.
Another revolutionary case for 3D marks was handed down by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court on 7 September 2021. This case reiterated that Trade Mark law should not be confused with Patent law. And tha...
With an increase in access to information, reliance on the collective knowledge of software developers through online forums during the software development process has become a norm. How many times h...
Some business owners elect to embark on the registration of their trade marks on their own, without consulting with a specialist trade mark attorney, mainly to save costs. More often than not this dec...
As you will recall, the United Kingdom was officially severed from the EU due to Brexit as of 31 December 2020. Fortunately, a grace period has been provided to those who have an interest in obtaining...
Ordinary trade marks are the “popular kid” of the Intellectual Property industry; however, businesses often overlook the potential competitive advantage of certification trade marks. Ordinary trade ma...
Influencers have become one of the best ways to get your products sold online, and many brands invest millions into “top-tier” influencers to promote their products. Unfortunately, this has created a...
A series of compliant events – Part 2 – Who is accountable for processing the personal information?Once your business has conducted a POPIA assessment and has determined that it is processing personal...
The Copyright Laws of many countries, including the United States of America and South Africa provide that in order for a work to be afforded copyright protection, it must be original in nature (in th...
The South African patent office (“patent office”) recently made global news for becoming the first patent office in the world to have granted a patent for an invention that was created by artificial i...
BEYOND REGISTRATION I Trade mark protection does not end at registration, and trade mark enforcement does not need to mean lengthy litigation or extensive legal fees for brand owners. Having a good...
Previously we have discussed the rise of blockchain technology and how Intellectual Property (IP) could benefit from it. This article further looks at recent blockchain projects which have developed s...
Many called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare a state of emergency, as South Africa recently underwent one of the worst unrests in decades. Hundreds of shops and businesses fell victim to looti...
By now, businesses are likely all aware that the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) is in full force and requires all businesses which process personal information of persons to...
Kenya now has a system of recording intellectual property rights with the Kenya Anti-Counterfeit Authority (“ACA”).This is as a result of the amendment to the Anti-Counterfeiting Act where parliament...
"World Intellectual Property Day" is celebrated every year on 26 April – the day on which the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Convention came into force in 1970. This year, the central...
As a general rule, the law lags behind technology. The exponential growth in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking place across the world is testing current patent laws and raising new lega...
Famous and exclusive fashion brand Valentino S.P.A. is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1960 by Valentino Garavani and forms part of the Valentino Fashion Group.Valentino filed trade mark ap...
French luxury fashion house Chanel has failed in its latest attempt to block the registration of a trade mark applied for by Chinese technological giant Huawei Technologies.In September 2017, Huawei f...
In the 1982 movie “Conan the Barbarian”, the title character is told by his father (a blacksmith) that he must learn “the riddle of steel”. Conan’s father is then slain by the villain who then tries h...
The Patents Act 57 of 1978 of South Africa (“the South African Patents Act”) provides that, amongst other things, anything which consists of:a program for a computer; or a scheme, rule or method for p...
South African copyright legislation finds its roots in 1917 when the Legislative Assembly effectively enacted the British Imperial Copyright Act of 1911 as the Third Schedule to the Patents, Designs,...
While the world was hunkering down in isolation, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) was busy launching a service intended to revolutionise the administration and protection of intelle...
A series of compliant events – Part 1 By now, most organisations are aware that the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) 4 of 2013 (“the Act”) is effective and requires all businesses which...
A session of the National People’s Congress in China voted and passed a new law that came into effect on 1 January 2021. Importantly, the new law contains several provisions related to intellectual pr...
