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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Small Business Owners
July 8, 2011
Copyright ©, Intellectual Property Information, Patents, Trade Marks ™ ®
In the United States intellectual property based businesses and entrepreneurs drive more economic growth than any other sector.
Today, counterfeiting, piracy and the theft of intellectual property pose a serious threat to all business owners and entrepreneurs.
These threats make it important to protect invention and innovation intellectual property, whether you’re a major multinational company or a small business.
While every business is vulnerable to intellectual property piracy and counterfeiting, small businesses can have a particular disadvantage because they lack the resources available to larger corporations.
Small businesses owners often skip the process of protecting their intellectual property. It is essential for small businesses owners to patent ideas or register company / brand names as trademarks.
Success in a global economy depends more and more on intellectual property assets.
What is my intellectual property?
Company name, logo, slogan, product name, product logo, any type of branding. These are all potential trademarks and need to be registered so that your business can have exclusive rights to these articles.
Inventions such as science inventions, biotech inventions, medical inventions, mechanical inventions, sports equipment inventions, electronic inventions and household inventions. These are all potential patents and need to be registered.
Novels, poems, textbooks, letters, reports, lectures, speeches, musical works, paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, films, recordings, books and computer related articles such as programming software, scripts and databases are all copyright works subject to copyright protection.
6 EASY STEPS to – Patent your Invention – Click here!
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Copyright Dates
June 17, 2011
Attorneys, Copyright ©
When you see several dates in a copyright statement, it simply means that certain things were created in one year and modified later. It could also mean that new things were created and added in a later year.
It most definitely does not refer to the date that a copyright will expire. Expiration of a copyright actually takes place much later, and this period of validity begins from the date that you see in the copyright statement.
The Berne Convention establishes a general and minimum period that lasts the life of the author and fifty years after his (or her) death.
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Public Domains as related to Intellectual Property
May 10, 2011
Copyright ©
Public domains refer to work not covered by copyright anymore. Public domains as related to literary, artistic, broadcasting, and musical products are works for which the copyright may have expired or for which no intellectual property rights exist or the copyrights have been forfeited. Some famous examples of public domains are that of Shakespeare works and music composed by Beethoven.
Public domains refer to information and works which are available to the public and can be used by the public because there are no intellectual property rights attached. The first time the term was used in copyright was in 1710 in the UK. Ideas are not protected by copyright law, only the material expression of such ideas. Mathematical formulas fall within the scope of public domain, but algorithms can be protected by some intellectual property rights.
Any works created before copyright laws are in public domain. It should be noted that translations and adaptations don’t form part of public domains. If the copyright on a work expires the work can fall into public domain. Government works generally fall within public domains, unless the work is enacted into law.
Public domain works form an integral part of the modern knowledge base and such should be used as sources of information. One must note that although a work is in public domain, you may still not present it as your own. You may use it, adapt it and make it available, but the work cannot be called yours unless you have substantially added onto it. Many databases exist for public domains where Internet users can locate work that can be freely copied and used without the fear of copyright infringement.
Contact us for legal advice regarding the usage of public domains and how to prevent your works from becoming public domain.
Copyright Articles
- Copyright for Cinematographic Film
If you want to register copyright on a cinematograph film in South Africa, you will have to complete a copyright application… - Copyright Infringement on the Internet
Too many amateur photographers make the mistake of thinking that any photo they upload to the internet will automatically… - Software Copyright
Once the computer program is created in a material form, the work is instantly subject to copyright… - Copyright in South Africa
There are two principal international copyright conventions, the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright… - Cinematograph Films Copyright Registration
The only form of copyright which can be registered in South Africa, is copyright in a cinematographic film… - USA Copyright Registrations
In the U.S copyright registrations can be filed through the United States Copyright… - Copyright Facts
The general rule is that the author / writer / photographer / creator is the first owner of copyright…
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Copyright Myths Exposed
April 7, 2011
Attorneys, Copyright ©
In many instances copyright infringement takes place simply because of ignorance and misconceptions. A few guidelines are provided below to help you avoid copyright infringement.
Work On The Internet Is Copyright Protected
Make no mistake most works on the Internet are copyright protected. Only if a work falls within public domain, that is the copyright has expired, then can one freely copy or use the work, but it is still necessary to cite the source. Photos on the Internet, whether on Facebook or any other medium, are copyright protected. The moment an artistic or literary work is put into tangible form, it is automatically protected by copyright.
Works Without Copyright Notices Are Still Protected
Do not make the mistake of believing that if there is no copyright notice or symbol that the work falls within public domain. Most works which are in public domain can be found in special lists and databases on the Internet. Even if there is no copyright notice, you can assume that the work is protected.
If templates are available on the Internet with a specific requirement, you must follow the terms and conditions of usage. The templates may not have copyright notices, but the authors may require that you leave the link in place and notice of authorship. If you delete such you lose the right to usage.
Adapting A Piece Of Work Doesn’t Make The Work Yours
Article rewriting if done for your own website and from your own work or for the purpose of submitting to article directories is not copyright infringement. If, however, you find an article on the Internet and decide that you like it and change it a bit to pass the copy detection tools, you are still in violation of copyright. If you refer to another’s work, the source must be cited. If you adapt or copy an article from the Internet without permission from the author it stays copyright infringement. You can use a work as inspiration, but once you start writing make sure that you create original content.
Contact us at Smit & Van Wyk Intellectual Property Attorneys for assistance regarding copyright related issues.
Copyright Articles
- Copyright for Cinematographic Film
If you want to register copyright on a cinematograph film in South Africa, you will have to complete a copyright application… - Copyright Infringement on the Internet
Too many amateur photographers make the mistake of thinking that any photo they upload to the internet will automatically… - Software Copyright
Once the computer program is created in a material form, the work is instantly subject to copyright… - Copyright in South Africa
There are two principal international copyright conventions, the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright… - Cinematographic Films Copyright Registration
The only form of copyright which can be registered in South Africa, is copyright in a cinematographic film… - USA Copyright Registrations
In the U.S copyright registrations can be filed through the United States Copyright… - Copyright Facts
The general rule is that the author / writer / photographer / creator is the first owner of copyright…
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