Intellectual Property Law

Our firm specialises in the complete spectrum of intellectual property and related law, with particular emphasis on patents, trademarks, designs, copyrights, plant breeders' rights, trade secrets, unfair competition and passing off, internet domain names, service inventions, open source software, big data, privacy protection, and various topics central to or associated with intellectual property.

Copyright Law Services

Our copyright law practice delivers comprehensive legal services to internet and media companies, publishers, authors, musicians and artists. These services encompass the protection of musical, literary, artistic, dramatic and cinematic works, as well as general legal advice for users of copyrighted materials.

Our expertise in this field includes:

Representing plaintiffs and defendants in copyright infringement litigation
Providing ongoing counsel to companies and individuals on copyright protection and infringement matters
Advising and representing clients in agreements with collective rights management organisations
Offering guidance to various entities on legislative proposals in the area of copyright
Advising on copyright-related issues to help clients develop effective copyright protection strategies
Structuring agreements for the use of copyrighted works in television and cinematic productions
Handling advertising and regulatory matters related to copyright

Trademark Law Services

Our Trademark Department specialises in all aspects of registration and legal assistance in trademark registration with the trademark registrar’s office.

Protection

The Trademarks Department has decades of extensive experience in protecting trademarks, both in South Africa and abroad. We provide comprehensive services to a wide range of clients, from multinational corporations to start-up companies.

Conducting Trademark Searches

Conducting trademark searches is a critical step in the trademark registration process, ensuring that your chosen trademark is unique and does not infringe on existing trademarks. Our trademark services include thorough and comprehensive trademark searches to help you secure a distinctive and legally sound trademark.

Our team of experts utilises advanced search tools and databases to conduct extensive searches across multiple jurisdictions. This includes examining registered trademarks, pending applications and common law trademarks that may not be listed in official databases. By identifying potential conflicts early in the process, we help you avoid costly legal disputes and rebranding efforts.

We analyse the results of the trademark search in detail, providing you with a clear assessment of the availability and registrability of your chosen trademark. Our analysis includes evaluating the likelihood of confusion with existing trademarks and advising on any necessary modifications to enhance your trademark’s uniqueness and protectability.

Tracking Competitors

Monitoring competitors and detecting infringements are crucial for safeguarding your trademarks and maintaining your brand’s integrity in a competitive market. By keeping an eye on the industry landscape, you can swiftly identify and address any unauthorised use of your brand assets, ensuring that your trademarks remain exclusive. This proactive approach helps protect your intellectual property and preserve your brand’s reputation and market value. We use advanced monitoring tools and strategies that allow you to stay ahead of competitors, enforce your rights and maintain a strong, distinct presence in the market.

Domain Name Registration

Domain name registration is a fundamental part of establishing your online presence and protecting your brand. Our comprehensive trademark services include helping you secure the perfect domain name that aligns with your brand identity.

We understand the importance of choosing a domain name that is not only memorable but also legally sound, ensuring it does not infringe on existing trademarks. Our experts will guide you through the entire process, from searching for available domain names to registering and managing your domain. By integrating domain name registration with our trademark services, we offer a seamless solution to build and protect your brand’s digital footprint.

Trademark Selection and Legal Guidance

We provide comprehensive opinions on the use and procurement of trademarks, helping you navigate the complexities of trademark law. This includes evaluating the distinctiveness, registrability and potential conflicts of your chosen trademark. Through thorough searches and analyses, we identify existing trademarks that may pose risks and advise on strategies to mitigate them.

Our goal is to deliver a trademark that is both unique and legally sound, strengthening your brand’s market presence whilst safeguarding it from infringement.

Planning and Implementation of a Trademark Portfolio

Strategic planning and implementation of a trademark portfolio are essential for comprehensive brand protection and growth. Our trademark services include expert guidance in creating and managing a robust trademark portfolio tailored to your business needs.

We begin by assessing your current and future business goals and identifying key trademarks that are critical to your brand’s identity and market presence. We also evaluate potential risks and advise on strategies to mitigate them, ensuring your trademarks are well protected from infringement and dilution.

Once the planning phase is complete, we assist in the efficient registration of your trademarks across relevant jurisdictions, ensuring compliance with all legal requirements. Our services extend to ongoing management and monitoring of your trademark portfolio, helping you maintain the integrity and exclusivity of your brand assets.

Business Due Diligence

Due Diligence is a comprehensive and in-depth investigation into the assets, financial status and commercial capabilities of an enterprise or company, to determine whether the company or entrepreneur has real and business-value assets, to determine the value of these assets and the extent to which the venture is exposed to competitive risk.

Business Due Diligence is of crucial importance to an entrepreneur or investor looking into the possibility of investing in a company, when a licence is being purchased for the company’s technology, or before a company merges with another.

IP Due Diligence

IP Due Diligence is important in its own right, but particularly with respect to Intellectual Property, which, in most cases, lies at the heart of any business.

The scope of the Due Diligence and the issues it will cover depend on the technology and nature of the transaction. Our professionals ensure that the Due Diligence complexity and scope are consistent with the client’s needs and goals in the transaction. Due to Intellectual Property’s great value in the technological world, Due Diligence must provide all of the important information on a company’s intangible assets. This knowledge enables proper assessment of the parameters supporting the business plan, including the net worth of the company’s patents and the barriers they create for existing as well as potential competitors, and other barriers such as unique and confidential know-how.

Types of Brand Abuse

Brand abuse is the exploitation of Intellectual Property (IP) without having legal permission for use of IP assets from the IP legal owner. Common activities of brand abuse include:

1. Counterfeiting

Counterfeiting is the manufacturing, distribution or sales of goods that use a trademark, logo, design or utility patent, without permission from the legal IP rights owner, often with the intention of misleading consumers to think they are buying authentic goods.

2. Trademark Squatting

Trademark squatting is the registering of someone else’s mark in bad faith, often in territories where the original mark owner has yet to register their mark, or where there are issues of transliteration, as may happen with Chinese trademarks.

3. Copyright Infringement

Copyright infringement, also referred to as piracy, is the unauthorised use, reproduction, distribution or display of work protected by copyright Intellectual Property law. Copyright protects literary, musical or artistic works. For example, it helps to prevent the copying of photographs to other material that was produced by a brand owner.

4. Patent Infringement

Patent infringement is the use or sale of goods with a patented invention, without permission from the legal patent holder.

5. Infringing Websites and Social Media Accounts

Websites and social media accounts which are created with the purpose of infringing upon the IP rights of brand owners are a common brand abuse practice. Among the more known activities are:

Cybersquatting – registering or using web-domain names in bad faith. This involves the purchase of domain names that use the names of existing brands, trademarks or copyrighted work, for the purpose of selling illegal goods, misleading consumers, or offering such web-domains for sale to the person or company who owns the trademark contained within the domain-name, at an inflated price.
Typosquatting – a form of cybersquatting that targets users who type an incorrect website name, diverting traffic to websites different to the one they intended to reach. This is also called ‘URL hijacking’.
Scam sites and social media accounts – websites that imitate the look-and-feel of an authentic brand’s website, with the intention of deceiving consumers or social media accounts imitating existing brands or people, for illicit profits.

6. Grey Market Sales

Grey market sales are, for the most part, not illegal. However, the sales of authentic goods through unauthorised channels and in territories that were not authorised for sale by the legal brand owner may lead to brand abuse. Grey marketing, also known as parallel importing, often makes use of price differences between territories, and in many cases is the result of distributors breaching their distribution agreements.

Ready to take the next step in resolving your legal matters with confidence and compassion?

Contact us today to schedule a consultation with our experienced team. Let us advocate for your rights, navigate the complexities of the legal landscape, and help you achieve the best possible outcome for your case. Your journey towards resolution starts here.

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