Firms in battle over IP for armoured vehicle
Two local arms manufacturers are locked in a court battle over a dispute about the ownership of the intellectual property (IP) of an armoured military vehicle.
A Sunday Times Daily report says Paramount Land Systems obtained an urgent Anton Piller order from the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) Acting Judge Elizabeth Baloyi-Mere against Twiga Services and Logistics in November.
In an affidavit before the court by Paramount’s John Craig, he said he only became aware that Twiga had been successfully marketing a vehicle branded as the Nyati to customers abroad after news reports in early August.
The reports also mentioned that the Nyati’s development and testing was concluded early in 2021 and that a technology transfer agreement was under way with a launch customer elsewhere in Africa.
According to Craig’s statement, he noticed a ‘striking similarity’ between the Nyati and Paramount’s Gila vehicle, which was originally designed between 2006 and 2012.
It was first designed by a now defunct company called Industrial and Automotive Design (SA), better known as IAD.
Paramount Land Systems, the current applicant in the case, purchased all IP from the liquidated company, including the data pack for the Gila.
According to Craig’s statement, the original designers have done a technical comparison and analysis of the two vehicles.
They all reached the same conclusion – that the vehicles are ‘virtually identical’. Craig argued that Paramount is the legal owner of the copyright to all the design components of the Gila and therefore has a range of exclusive rights to what happens with the data pack.
These include any reproductions in any manner or form and making adaptations to the work without any licence agreement or the permission of Paramount.
The Sunday Times Daily report says according to the order, Paramount is not allowed to disclose any of the details gained during the execution of the order.
A group of independent consultants in the defence industry, as well as a professor and independent forensic computer analysts, formed part of the ‘raid’ group on Twiga’s premises in Pretoria.
The group had permission to search cloud storage, the computer server and all hard drives, or any other electronic or data storage devices on the premises. The information gained has to relate to Paramount’s case.
Twiga also had to supply all passwords and procedures for the team to gain access to its computer systems.
The Sheriff of the Court will retain copies of all the documentation seized until the main application in the case is heard.
It is understood Twiga will oppose the case, but it has not filed court papers. No date for the main application has been determined.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
