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Although copyright is automatically assigned in South Africa, the complexity of copyright and a closely related field – trademarks, makes it essential to get the advice from copyright lawyers Pretoria on various issues.
Smit & Van Wyk is one of the leading copyright lawyers Pretoria firms and as such provides extensive guidance regarding issues which may cause a bit of confusion. One such an area is that of the title of a book.
The text of books is considered to have copyright status, but the title is a bit more complex. Book titles are viewed as slogans, so they can be trademarked; however, they cannot obtain copyright status.
The only way they can receive trademark status is if they have a secondary meaning, aside from a description of the book's content.
Normally, because titles are seen as simply descriptions of content, it is difficult for them even to get trademark status. A person therefore would find it difficult to take legal steps against another author for using the same title of a book, unless the title is trademarked.
The rationale here is that if a title had copyright status, the title would be restricted to that book when it could be equally relevant to separate books. Titles that are part of a series and have secondary meanings are more likely to earn trademark status. If you need help in getting a title trademarked you should get the help of the Smit & Van Wyk copyright lawyers Pretoria firm.
It may be possible to make a valid case if another person or entity utilizes the title of a book to mislead or uses titles in a series to make readers believe that they are really purchasing the original series or book.
In such a case you will require the legal expertise of the Smit & Van Wyk copyright lawyers Pretoria firm.
Contact us for assistance should this be the case.
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