Why is Intellectual Property important?

IP encourages innovation and rewards entrepreneurs. It helps generate breakthrough solutions to global challenges.

Who is affected by intellectual Property?

IP affects everyone and every industry, including fashion, auto, medical, energy, electronics, biotech and green tech.

What steps should be taken to protect one’s invention?

An inventor should not publicly disclose nor reveal the gist of the invention before deciding on the options available.

What kind of protection does a patent offer?

Patent protection means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed, sold without the patent owners consent.

What rights does a patent owner have?

A patent owner has the right to decide who may or may not use the patented invention for the period in which the invention is protected. The patent owner may give permission to other parties to use the invention on mutually agreed terms.

If the book I want to copy from is out of print, surely I can do as I please?

“Out of print” does not necessarily mean “Out of Copyright”. In South Africa, copyright lasts for 50 years after the death of the author.

Why should I have to pay copyright fees? Isn’t information supposed to be free?

Without reimbursements authors have little incentive to go on creating, in which case there would be no information.

Can I download and print material from the Internet and photocopy it for my class of students?

No, all content on the internet is copyrighted. You may not reproduce material without permission from the rights owner

What about photographic, drawings, graphs, maps and so on?

These are all defined as “Artistic works” in the Copyright Act, and are copyright protected.