Law of Immaterial Goods

September 25, 2008
Intellectual Property News and Interesting Facts

The laws of immaterial goods bestow upon the creators of such immaterial goods a number of exclusive rights. In South Africa as in many other western countries these laws are governed by several Acts of Parliament, namely the Trademarks Act, the Patents Act, the Designs Act and the Copyright Act.

Immaterial goods are for the most part made up of creations of the mind – that is to say intellectual property such as books, plays, poems, music, designs, drawings, works of art, and trademarks.

To this list we can add inventions that are covered by the law of patent as well as samples, prototypes, preliminary studies and projects. The laws governing immaterial goods came about during the Industrial Revolution when tools began to take on a new meaning.

Thanks to the development of tools it became possible to invent and manufacture new tools and to reproduce them en-masse. In order to offer some protection to the inventors of new artifacts, laws of immaterial goods were developed in the majority of western countries.

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Contact Details for Smit & Van Wyk

Tel:
+27 (0) 12 349 7800

Fax:
+27 (0) 86 619 0493

E-mail:
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Persequor Technopark
Meiring Naudé Avenue
Pretoria
0184
South Africa

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