Good progress has been made in South Africa to establish and
provide for the adequate protection of traditional works over the
past few years. One of the first being the formulation of the
Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Act No. 28 of 2013 (the
IPLAA), which came into effect on 10 December 2013.
The aim of the IPLAA is to provide for the recognition and
protection of certain manifestations of indigenous knowledge as a
species of intellectual property, through the amendment of the
existing South African Intellectual Property Framework.
One of the Intellectual Property species amended by the IPLAA to
account for traditional works is the copyright. Unlike most other
types of intellectual property , which require a formal
registration process of the subject matter, copyright protection is
enjoyed upon the fulfilment of various statutory requirements set
out in the Copyright Act No. 98 of 1978 (the Copyright Act).
