Vans Aircraft is a very successful producer of aircraft and aircraft kits based in the US. Their fleet of RVs (as they are known) have, over the past 50 odd years, become a major player in general aviation, the term used to describe aviation for private pilots and basically everything outside of commercial air transport including the experimental market. In 2023, over 1100 of their fleet were flying worldwide. However, despite their success in the tangible world, their investment intangible rights to protect and nurture their innovation appears to have been strangely absent, vastly undervalu ..read more

INTA, together with the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) and IPvocate Africa, organised a first virtual Customs training for 24 south-east African countries that took place from 9 to 11 December 2020 (for English-speaking countries and on 17 and 18 March 2021 (for French-speaking countries). Customs officials from all around East Africa participated in the online seminar hosted on the secure virtual conferencing platform of INTA. The training sessions will be followed by a customs action targeting counterfeit goods in the region in the second quarter of 2021. The initiative was born out of a ..read more

Denise Nicholson, the specialist librarian in copyright and scholarly communication, has launched Scholarly Horizons, a resource and advisory service for publishers, researchers and academics and more! According to the website launched this week, Scholarly Horizons offers various web sessions which are particularly useful for academics, authors, postgraduate students, and librarians, but can also be tailored for corporates, government departments, specific interest groups, freelancers, NGO’s, authors, and/or secondary school teachers and learners. In a ..read more

Marius Schneider & Nora Ho Tu Nam, IPvocate Africa Legal Advisers have informed Afro-Dodo that the Republic of Mauritius is now the twentieth African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) member state. Mauritius deposited its instrument of accession to the Lusaka Agreement which establishes ARIPO on 25 September 2020. Mauritius has however not acceded to the relevant protocols related to patent, trade mark or design. It is not possible to designate Mauritius via an ARIPO application.  "We have not heard anything locally on the future accession o ..read more

INTA, the global association of brand owners and professionals supporting trademarks and related IP to foster trust, economic growth, and innovation, have teamed up with Marius Schneider and Vanessa Ferguson to broadcast a webcast series dedicated to Africa. It is available live or on demand! The six-session webcast series, Enforcement of IP Rights in Africa, will highlight developments in Africa. The presenters include government officials, practitioners, and brand-owner representatives from key jurisdictions. The series starts with an overview session focusing on the current economi ..read more

Cape Horn is a rugged headland that lies at the southernmost point of Terra de Fuego, an archipelago at the very tip of South America. It is notoriously difficult to navigate, with unpredictable weather, high seas, strong winds and turbulent conditions. It is where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet and it took a Dutchman Jacob Le Maire to first circumnavigate this cape in 1616. Fast forward 400 odd years and we have a case report of a South African judge navigating the turbulent waters of a trade mark dispute between a licensor and its former licensee involving the brands PACIFIC and ATLANT ..read more

This is a guest post from Jeremy Sampson. Mergers: cautionary tales Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) are happy hunting grounds for lawyers and accountants. With the increasing numbers of distressed companies due to Covid-19 and the economic recession, the opportunities are increasing by the day. Add to this the weakness of the Rand and overseas investors, awash with cash, must be watching with heightened interest. Perhaps the main hurdle to inward investment is the ANC and regulatory issues which can be challenging. But while, as Michael Katz argued (“trade Carefully”, FM, July2), legal ..read more

Just a brief note to inform you that there will be a free webinar to mark the launch of ‘Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in Africa’ today 10 September at 3 PM UK time. Marius, Vanessa and Sarah  would be very happy if you could join this event. You can register here https://bit.ly/2F0AlWp. Afro Leo will be attending ..read more

The President of South Africa has made a much-awaited announcement regarding the controversial Copyright Amendment Bill and Performer’s Protection Amendment Bill in South Africa. His decision to refer the Bills back to the National Assemblyis because they “may not pass constitutional muster” and could be at risk of being set aside by the courts. The reasons: Incorrect tagging –the Bills were incorrectly tagged as section 75 Bills when they are section 76 Bills that affect cultural matters and trade. That the Bills will enact law that may be retrospective and arbitrary deprivations of propert ..read more

Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in Africa by Marius Schneider and Vanessa Ferguson was published by Oxford University Press in May 2020. Filling a gap in the market, this is the first book dedicated to providing a detailed overview of the law and practice in relation to intellectual property rights enforcement in all 54 African countries. For the first time, a comprehensive manual on the conditions and procedures under which the civil and criminal courts, the police and customs take action with regard to counterfeit and pirated goods is publicly available. The book fully explai ..read more