Legal Articles and Guides

About R12bn of SA’s exports could lose preferential access to US markets if a lobby group convinces the Donald Trump administration to withdraw SA’s trade status should the contentious Copyright Amendment Bill be passed into law in its current form, notes a Business Day report.

A Durban businessman is taking on Pick n Pay in the KZN High Court for using his trademark on their braai products. In court papers, Flamco CC owner Rajan Naicker said he had hoped to resolve the matter amicably but the retailer continued to use his trademark, Braaitime, notes a Sunday Times report.

The Coalition for Effective Copyright has petitioned President Cyril Ramaphosa not to sign the Copyright Amendment Bill into law. At a media briefing at Constitutional Hill yesterday, the coalition's spokesperson Collen Dlamini said if the Bill was signed into law it would amount to expropriation of local content without compensation, says a TimesLIVE report.

Film organisations have slammed Parliament for passing the Copyright Amendment Bill. As reported in Legalbrief Today, the National Council of Provinces passed the Bill last week and sent it to President Cyril Ramaphosa to sign into law. A Weekend Argus report notes the Coalition for Effective Copyright in SA objected to the Bill, saying it contradicts the World Intellectual Property Organisation Copyright Treaty which the house adopted.

A legal tussle over the film rights of Afropop star Brenda Fassie has been laid to rest after the company which claimed it had the exclusive rights to make a film of her life lost its court battle.

SA musician Daniel Baron is taking on international dance music superstar David Guetta with claims he plagiarised Baron’s 2016 hit single, Children of The Sun, says a Sunday Times report. Baron, who is signed to Universal Music, claims Guetta’s track, Light Headed, featuring Australian singer Sia and released in September 2018, has a ‘near-identical’ melody to Children of The Sun.

Chicken Licken claims that the name of a vegan restaurant in Durban North, Oh my Soul Café, and its use of the word ‘licken’ in its menu are confusing to customers, and so it is taking the restaurant to court over alleged trademark infringements. Chicken Licken says it needs urgent adjudication, and the dispute is due to be aired before KZN High Court (Durban) Judge Dhaya Pillay this week.

Bata Brands SA has taken on a rival shoe-maker over the soles of its shoes, claiming their aim is to dupe customers into believing they are buying Bata Toughees. A Weekend Witness report says the matter was argued before Judge Trevor Gorven in the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg).

Another small business has complained of Woolworths copying its product – this time it's a nutrition bar. But the retailer has denied the claims, saying it started developing its product years before ever meeting the entrepreneur, Fin24 reports. Last week Woolworths was in the spotlight after founder and designer of Ubuntu Baba baby carriers Shannon McLaughlin blogged about how the retailer copied her product.

Woolworths is to remove a baby carrier product from its stores, following a meeting with a business owner who claimed the retailer had copied her idea, according to a Fin24 report. This comes after founder and designer of Ubuntu Baba baby carriers Shannon McLaughlin outlined in a blog post that the retailer copied her product idea.

The design of a baby carrier that is not only suitable for the baby but comfortable for the mother as well is at the centre of a dispute between its designer, Shannon McLaughlin, and Woolworths after she discovered the exact design being sold at the retail giant's online shop in December 2018. McLaughlin, who is accusing the retailer of stealing her design and concept, described Woolworths’ conduct as ‘completely unethical’, says a TimesLIVE report.

Pepkor, the owner of Tekkie Town, is having difficulty persuading Judge Siraj Desai, of the Western Cape High Court, that the ‘fools gold’ allegedly paid to the founders of Tekkie Town had nothing to do with the current trademark case against Mr Tekkie.

World football federation Fifa has been stripped of all its SA trademarks and is now forced to hand over documents that could expose corruption and millions in kickbacks at the highest levels of government and the country’s local soccer authority. In what City Press describes as a world first, Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) Judge Van der Westhuizen issued an attachment order in favour of former football administrator Leslie Sedibe.

Telecommunications giant Vodacom is still prepared to negotiate with Please Call Me inventor Nkosana Makate on whether to compensate him a share of revenue that the service has generated. This, notes a Moneyweb report, emerged from Vodacom’s affidavit filed this week in response to Makate’s latest application at the Constitutional Court, which seeks clarity on last year's groundbreaking order that compelled the company to enter into in good faith compensation negotiations with him.

Ackermans was recently successful in what Werksmans Attorneys’ Janine Hollesen calls a precedent-setting trademark dispute with Truworths (Pepkor Retail (Pty) Ltd v Truworths Ltd) which was heard by the SCA. In an analysis in The Star, Hollesen notes that the trademark at the centre of the dispute was ‘The Look’.