In order to understand what constitutes the law of immaterial goods it is necessary to qualify what we mean by immaterial goods. 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.
These were originally dedicated to the task of getting the creations of the mind into the world for the benefit of others and at the same time giving some sort of assurance to the creators of these works and artifacts that they would be compensated in return for the publication of their creation. Over the years these laws have progressed into what we know today as intellectual property laws.
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.
Whereas the original concept of intellectual property laws was to encourage the distribution of new ideas, the digital environment has encouraged thoughts profit making especially in large corporates to the detriment of the original model. It is estimated that more than half the global market in software packages being used on PCs is pirated, and that one in three music CDs is also pirated.
The fact that we live in a digital age means that these figures will never lessen. Technology is now being developed that will help to support the laws of immaterial goods by embedding some form of “black box” in hardware that will recognize protected goods and prevent their clandestine use.
It is already possible to this trend in the economy in many western countries with the result that the laws of immaterial goods are under scrutiny to see whether any changes would be beneficial.
One major example of this is the present huge debate as to whether software, rather than being protected by Copyright, as is the present case in most countries, should be patentable. In the United States laws have already been passed making this possible, much to the concern of many of the country’s smaller software houses.
If you would like to know more about the laws of immaterial goods please call our offices and arrange to meet one of our intellectual property lawyers, who will be happy to assist you.
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