Intellectual Property Highlights

In this article we review recent judgement of relative importance, as well as certain noteworthy statutory amendments. These include:

• Trademarks – the new service classes (43-45) come into effect on January 1, 2002
• Designs –
an ornamental feature that may be applied to a number of objects, may be protected per se with the need to apply for registration of the different objects
• Filing of patent applications
– continued to increase in 2000
• Contributory infringement
introduced into the law by a Supreme Court Decision
• Copyright in sport events
– Supreme Court rules that a television production of a sport broadcast is a copyrighted work
• Other decisions
• New legislation
• The Crop Protection (Arrangement of Importation and sale of Chemical Preparations) Regulations (Amendment), 2001 – Parallel imports of agro-chemicals