It’s a problem with a specialist field like IP –
every now and then a judge who doesn’t know his
®'s from his elbow gives a judgement that stuffs things up
completely. It’s something that lawyers love, of course
– a new revenue stream that’s quickly shrouded in
mystery.
So it came to pass that in 2004 a judge in a case that is
generally known as the Reddot case held that a patent is a form of
‘capital’ because it has a monetary value. The result
of this finding was dramatic – every time that a South
African patent (or trade mark, design or copyright) was transferred
to a foreigner there was an export of capital, something that
required Treasury approval. If there was no Treasury approval, the
whole deal was void from the outset. Not exactly in sync with the
whole free trade / globalisation thing. Within no time law
firms had created entire divisions to help their clients to get
Treasury approval for transfers of IP to foreigners.
