Guides

On 20 May 2021, the South African Patents Court confirmed the rights of a patentee in interim interdict proceedings in circumstances where the patent claim included a non-essential integer. In this matter, and despite the constraints caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, detailed and voluminous affidavit evidence from various parties in different countries and lengthy

South Africa’s food, alcohol and agricultural laws all contain a similar provision prohibiting the use of false and/or misleading descriptions of the relevant commodity.  These prohibitions extend not only to descriptions that are applied to the labels of these commodities but also extends to the advertising thereof. Under the regulatory framework, inspectors of the

Intellectual Property (IP) is one of the most dynamic and debated fields of law, on international as well as on national level, consistently forcing countries to adapt to developments in commerce, trade and industry, and in scientific and artistic creativity. For over a century, Adams & Adams has been at the forefront of Intellectual

Can trademarks that are registered in South Africa and owned by a foreign entity be attached to found or create jurisdiction in South Africa over the foreign entity?  This question was considered by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in a judgment that was handed down in September 2021.  The case involved the Federation

It has been widely reported in the National Law Journal that hundreds of applications have been filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office attempting to register marks incorporating the word COVID since the pandemic began last year. Some of the examples of applications that have been reported are COVID-19 VIRUS FREE GUARANTEED for

Recent reports of a sharp increase in the number of South African patent applications that are being filed along with requests for expedited acceptance brings to mind the well-known fable of the tortoise and the hare. The hare, confident in the superiority of its speed, challenged the tortoise to a race. The hare quickly

South Africa has many talented designers active in the field of furniture and lighting, cutlery, crockery, textiles, jewellery and wine and product labels. South African designers and their product designs are highly regarded both locally and internationally and many of them have exhibited, and sold their products overseas. Some of the local trend setters

Copyright is a property right. The principle of any kind of property is that the owner may use it as they wish, and that nobody else can lawfully use it without their authorisation. Copyright protection affords the copyright owner certain exclusive rights which enable the copyright owner to exploit the copyright work for financial