Judge Sher of the Western Cape Division of the Supreme Court
recently handed down a judgment dealing with unlawful competition
and copyright infringement in .
The judgment is a useful reminder of an often overlooked area of
IP law, unlawful competition. The judgment is long and it is
technical, but in this article we'll be concentrating on
important legal aspects.
Unlawful competition
Technical Systems ("TS") manufactures
livestock and poultry feed-conveying products which include
'auger' (a form of spiral wire) and feed chain. TS
claimed that Feed Chain Industries
("FCI") was competing unlawfully and it
sought an interlocutory injunction and damages.
TS's issue with FCI was set out as follows - FCI had
wrongfully 'misappropriated and acquired confidential
information and technological 'know-how' belonging to it,
pertaining to its set-up and process for the manufacturing of feed
chain, as well as other trade secrets, in order that they could set
about
