PROTECTING YOUR IP RIGHTS

Waldo Steyn, Senior Associate, Intellectual Property

December 2012

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The Importance of Intellectual Property

• “Intellectual property is a key concern in the quest for growth, development and competitiveness. Advancement in knowledge broadly conceived is a key driver of economic prosperity in the twenty-first century.”

– Growth and Innovation Policies for a Knowledge Economy: Experiences from Finland, Sweden and Singapore.

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Intellectual Property in Business –What are we talking about?

Images taken from: http://oami.europa.eu/RCDOnline/RequestManager and http://openclipart.org/search/?query=technical drawing&page=2

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• Trade Marks

• Copyright

• Designs and Models

• Patents

• Trade Secrets

Intellectual Property in Business –What are we talking about?

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Intellectual Property Rights –Trade Marks

• Trade Marks (brands)

– Goodwill and reputation

– Anything that takes a distinctive form whether names, words, letters, figures, pictures or any other mark or a combination thereof, used in distinguishing goods, products or services…

– 45 Classes of goods and services

– National application

– Clearance for use

– Social Media…

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• Federal Law 37 of 1992 Concerning Trade Marks

– penalized with imprisonment and with a fine:

• counterfeiting a duly registered trade;

• imitating a duly registered trade mark - misleading the public;

• in bad faith uses a registered trademark belonging to another person;

• sells or offers for sale or distributes or possess for the purpose of sale products bearing a trade mark which is counterfeit, imitated or wrongfully affixed

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Intellectual Property Rights –Trade Marks

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• Copyrights (content)

– The bundle of rights conferred on the authors of original works related to the use and commercialization of those works.

– It not the abstract idea that is protected, but the physical recordal thereof.

– Books, computer software, databases, musical works, audio visual works, photographs, photographic works, diagrams, maps, engineering plans and drawings, architectural works…

– Who owns copyright and how is it created?

– How do you manage copyright ownership in your business?

• Employment agreements;

• Policies.

Intellectual Property Rights –Copyright

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• Federal Law 7 of 2002 In respect of Author Copyrights

– penalized with imprisonment and with a fine:

• infringement of any moral or exploitation rights, including putting any protected work within the reach of the public;

• selling, renting or making a protected work available for circulation;

• unauthorised manufacturing / importing a protected work or copies thereof for the purpose of selling, renting or circulating it, or any apparatus designed to manipulate protection to manage these rights;

• disabling or impairing, without a right to do so, any technical protection or electronic information intended to manage the rights set out in the copyright law;

• computer downloading or storing of any copy of computer programs or applications or databases without a licence from right holder; or

• use of a computer program or databases without a licence.

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Intellectual Property Rights –Copyright

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• Models (new products)

– Any original dimensional object giving a special feature that can be utilised as an industrial or vocational product.

• Designs (new appearances)

– Any original formation of lines or colours, or both, giving a special feature that can be utilised as an industrial or vocational product.

Intellectual Property Rights –Models and Designs

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• Patents (new products or processes)

– A novel invention resulting from an original concept or novel improvement to an invention protected by a patent whether or not pertaining to new industrial products or methods or novel application of known industrial methods.

• Practical Know How related to Patents and Designs

– The data, information or knowledge resulting from experience acquired from a profession of a technical or practicable nature.

Intellectual Property Rights –Patents and Practical Know How

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• Federal Law 17 of 2002 Patents, Industrial Design and Models

– precautionary attachment order by way of application to court and payment of security determined by court;

– penalized with imprisonment and with a fine:

• A person who replicates an invention, process or element of the practical know-how;

• A person who intentionally infringes any right protected by this law.

– Practical Know How related to Patents and Designs

• Article 42: Any use, disclosure or publication of any of the elements of the practical know-how without the consent of its owner shall be deemed an unlawful act if committed by a person aware of, or not possible for a person like him to ignore, the confidential nature thereof.

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Intellectual Property Rights –Models, Designs and Patents

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Intellectual Property Rights - Other Protection

• Trade Secrets

– Federal Law No. 18 of 1993 The Commercial Transactions Law

• Article 64: A trader may not induce the employees or workers of another competitor trader, so that they disclose to him the secrets of his competitor. The foregoing acts are considered unfair competition necessitating damages.

– Employment Agreements

– Non-disclosure Agreements

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Intellectual Property Rights - Other Protection

• Federal Law 5 of 2012 Combating Information Technology Crimes

– Penalized with a fine and / or imprisonment:

• unauthorised accesses to an information system;

• following the above - deleted, damaged, destroyed or change data;

• obtaining without authority a confidencial number, code, or password;

• unauthorised capture or intercept of communication;

• unauthorised use of an information system to expose confidential information obtained by occasion of his work.

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• Trade Marks

• Copyright

• Designs and Models

• Patents

• Trade Secrets

Intellectual Property Rights –Protection

IDENTIFY – PROTECT / OWN - MANAGE

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• Administrative Action

• Criminal Action

• Civil Action

• Customs Action

Intellectual Property Rights –Enforcement

DID YOU PROTECT YOUR IP?

THANK YOU