Copyright in South Africa
August 29, 2011
Copyright ©, Intellectual Property Information
Copyright Law in South Africa
Copyright in South Africa are government by the Copyright Act of 1978 and its amendments.
CIPRO and DTI oversee copyright in the country. As a member of the Berne Convention and TRIPS Agreement, copyright works protected in South Africa are also protected in other member states of the above.
Automatic Assignment of Rights
One doesn’t have to register copyright on a work for it to be protected. It is automatically assigned the moment an original creative work takes a tangible form.
Copyright apply to works that have some form of creativity embedded. As such a mere list of facts or data cannot be copyright protected. A grocery list for instance, is not a creative act and thus cannot be protected.
Works Protected
Copyright apply to computer programs, literary works, broadcasts, cinematographic films, artistic expressions such as music, photography, painting, drawing, and sculpting related works, and architectural works, as well as published editions and sound recordings.
With cinematograph films registration is required as such are complex works embedding several other creative works.
Usage Rights
Infringement of copyright can take place when a party copies, uses, sells, rents out, imports or disposes, stores and makes available copyright protected works in a manner not authorised by the copyright holder.
One can get usage and selling rights on a work through a license agreement. It is important to note that such rights can range from master reseller to mere usage rights. Royalties are paid to the copyright holder for such usage.
Copyright normally have lifespans of 50 years from a specific date and differ according to the work in question. In terms of for instance, a literary work, the duration is 50 years after the death of the original author.
One must also note that although a person can be the creator of the work, copyright can be assigned to another.
Contact us for legal guidance regarding copyright protection in South Africa and abroad.
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Oracle vs Google
August 22, 2011
Copyright ©, Intellectual Property News, Patents
Oracle is suing Google for patent and copyright infringement related to the use of Java in their Android Operating System (OS).
What happened?
Google developed Android and included a Java compatible technology called Dalvik with the phone operating system (OS).
Oracle claims that Google is using Java-derived technologies without a proper license, and that Google copied the entire hierarchical and organizational structure of the APIs into the Android source code.
Oracle also claims that Android‘s developers took a shortcut by not thinking of alternative names themselves.
Google copied 37 Java APIs, 458 classes, 158 Interfaces, 2,427 methods and 893 fields, claiming it was required for compatibility. An API is an Application Programming Interface.
Oracle argues that the structure as a whole is expressive and copyrightable.
Oracle and Java
In 2009 Oracle bought Sun Microsystems stock to the value of $7.4 billion giving Oracle Corporation sole ownership of Java and Solaris.
Oracle is the world’s largest enterprise software company.
Trade Marks
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and its affiliates.
Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, Solaris and the Network is the Computer are trademarks or registered trade marks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.
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Fake Apple Stores in China
August 15, 2011
Copyright ©, Trade Marks ™ ®
Image source: bbc.co.uk
A total of 22 fake Apple stores have been uncovered in Kunming, China. The investigation had unveiled 22 stores violating Apple‘s registered trade marks.
The 22 fake shops were unlawfully using Apple‘s brand and logo. Two of them were shut down for trading without a license.
Authorities began searching for fake Apple stores in Kunming after photos of a convincing replica circulated on the web.
An American living in Kunming published a blog post describing a visit to one of these fake Apple shops.
The fake shop had the words “Apple Store” written on the front. The shop owners copied the decor and ambiance of a real Apple store.
Staff also wore the same uniforms as real Apple staffers and they believed they were working in a real Apple store
The only official Apple stores in China are in Beijing and Shanghai.
Image source: bbc.co.uk
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Inventor & Artist Leonardo da Vinci
August 5, 2011
Copyright ©, Inventions
Image source: toptenz.net
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, artist, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, botanist and writer.
Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 to a wealthy notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman Caterina, in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci in Florence.
He is considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time. The Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait from Leonardo da Vinci. The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time. Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon.
He was a vegetarian and often purchased caged birds just to release them.
Leonardo da Vinci was also an inventor and conceptualized a tank, concentrated solar power, a calculator and outlined a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics.
Few of his designs were constructed during his lifetime but some of his smaller inventions, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire, were created.
Leonardo da Vinci‘s journals include a vast number of inventions, both practical and impractical. They include musical instruments, reversible crank mechanisms, finned mortar shells, hydraulic pumps, and a steam cannon.
In 1502, Leonardo da Vinci produced a drawing of a single span 220m bridge as part of a civil engineering project, but Beyazid believed that such a construction was impossible. In 2001 a smaller bridge based on his design was constructed in Norway and in 2006 the Turkish government decided to construct Leonardo‘s bridge to span the Golden Horn.
He also produced many studies of the flight of birds as well as plans for several flying machines, including a light hang glider and a helicopter.
In 2003 a British television station built and tested Leonardo da Vinci‘s machine designs according to his original sketches with some of them actually being successful.
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International Intellectual Property Attorneys
July 20, 2011
Copyright ©, Intellectual Property News, Patents, Registered Designs, Trade Marks ™ ®
Smit & Van Wyk, Inc. is a specialist legal practice in South Africa dealing exclusively with international intellectual property law.
The Smit & Van Wyk, Inc. foreign department in addition to advising on protection, specializes in assisting overseas agents and applicants with filing and prosecution of cases in South Africa and other African countries.
Our fields of practice encompass all aspects intellectual property, including litigation, relating to patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyright, in South Africa.
Our practice specializes in assisting South African and international clients to identify, protect and exploit their patents, trademarks and registered designs in South Africa and internationally.
Once the intellectual property of a business has been identified, steps should be taken to protect it, by means of registered patents, trademarks, registered designs, or unregistered forms of intellectual property protection, such as copyright, contractual agreements or non-statutory forms of protection.
Smit & Van Wyk, Inc.International Intellectual Property services includes:
Patents
- Patent Applications
- Patent Searches
- Patent Prosecution
- Patent Litigation
- Drafting & Preparing of Patent Specifications
- Filing & Prosecuting Patent Applications at the South African Patent Office
- Filing & Prosecuting International Patent Applications
- High Court Litigation
- Patents Industrial Designs
- Advice on Licensing and Assigning Patents
- Assistance in Applying for Government Grants
Trademarks
- Trademark Searches
- Trademark Applications
- Trademark Registrations
- Trademark Monitoring
- Trademark Licensing
- Trademark Disputes & Settlement Agreements
- Filing and Prosecuting South African and Foreign Trademarks
- Trademark Oppositions and Infringement Litigation
- Trademark-based Domain-name Disputes and Litigation
- Domain name Disputes
- Advertising Standard Authority Disputes
Copyrights
- Copyright Advice
- Copyright Agreements
- Copyright Licensing
- Copyright Litigation
Registered Designs
- Registered Design Applications
- Design Prosecution
- Design Litigation
- Design Enforcement
- Preparation, Drafting and Prosecution of Design Cases
Franchises
- Franchise Agreements
- Licensing Arrangements
- Advice on Franchising Your Business
- Advice on Purchasing a Franchise
- Dispute Resolution Services
- Advice on Consumer Protection Act
Contracts
- Drafting of Contractual Agreements
- Negotiating Contractual Agreements
- Contractual Disputes and Litigation
For more information on our International Intellectual Property services, please visit the Smit & Van Wyk International Intellectual Property website. www.smitvanwyk.com
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