Intellectual Property

September 28, 2009
Intellectual Property News and Interesting Facts

There are several categories of Intellectual Property in South Africa.

The overall concept of Intellectual Property though is the ideas or creations of the mind. Your ideas can mean an invention, a trademark, a new design, a song, a novel or a poem.

These ideas are known in the legal profession as your Intellectual Property, and you can be protected against anyone else using them without your permission.

The type of protection you are entitled to depends on the category of intellectual property. So, for example, an invention would fall under the Patent Act, a logo under the Trademark Act and a poem under the Copyright Act.

A fourth act covering new designs is the Design Act.