The South African Taxation of Trusts Recent Developments The Davis Tax Committee’s (“DTC”) first interim report was released in July 2015 (the “First Report”) and made various significant recommendations to the Minister of Finance regarding (among other topics) the taxation of trusts in South Africa ...
Another day, another failed colour trade mark application. But there may be some lessons to be learned from a recent Australian decision. The quest to monopolise colour goes on, and we have written on this topic on several occasions. In the latest Australian case on colour trade marks, Frucor Beverages Limited, manufacturer of an energy drink called V, applied to register the colour green as a trade mark for its energy drinks ...
A trade mark dispute about the name Iceland highlights the issue of trade marks in relation to geographic names. A dispute has arisen in Europe between Iceland the country and Iceland the brand – Iceland is a large UK-based supermarket chain. The supermarket chain has an EU trade mark registration for the name Iceland, a registration that it struggled long and hard to get, overcoming multiple oppositions along the way ...
It has always been the practice of the Industrial Property Institute (“IPI”) of Mozambique to prohibit the refiling of trade marks that have been finally refused, which has posed a serious obstacle to trade mark applicants who wish to refile their applications in Mozambique for strategic reasons. Refiling provides the applicant with an opportunity to consider the options available to overcome obstacles posed by earlier trade marks, or refusals based on distinctiveness ...
Despite being in existence for years, many have only recently become familiar with encryption. This follows heightened publicity around its use on popular social media platforms purportedly offering end-to-end encryption. Encryption (or cryptography) has been described as a mathematical formula or algorithm that encodes and decodes information, with only authorised persons having access to such information through a key ...
The recent Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) case of Transnet v Total is important not only for those in the petroleum industry, but also, more generally, when it comes to aspects of competition and discrimination, as well as the impact of changes in the law on existing contracts and vested rights ...
In July 2016, the South African Department of Trade and Industry (the “DTI”) published, and invited public comment on, its Intellectual Property Consultative Framework (the “IPCF”). The IPCF reflects the DTI’s views on South Africa’s IP policy position in the form of a consultative instrument ...
Trade mark law may be contained in statutes, but judges are the ones who interpret the statutes. Judges are also the ones who eventually decide whether one trade mark is confusingly similar to another. It is these factors that make the “Question the Trade Mark Judges” event that recently took place at University College London so fascinating for anyone interested in trade marks ...
In the case of Claremont Library Development Company (Pty) Ltd v The Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service, the Tax Court recently considered the question of whether crediting a loan account constitutes “payment” of full consideration for purposes of the Value-Added Tax Act, No 89 of 1991 (the “VAT Act”) ...
Section 103(2) of the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962 empowers the Commissioner (the “Commissioner”) for the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) to disallow the setting off of an assessed loss or balance of an assessed loss against the company’s income if the relevant requirements are met ...
Offensive trade marks, which we have written about previously, have again been in the news of late. Two US trade mark cases have dominated the headlines, and one of these has made it all the way to the US Supreme Court. This certainly suggests that Americans feel strongly about the issue of offensive trade marks. As South Africans are likely to have equally strong feelings on the issue of names that might offend particular groups, these US cases are worth discussing ...
In a previous newsflash, we highlighted the significant changes made to the broad-based black economic empowerment (“B-BBEE”) landscape in South Africa that were introduced by the new B-BBEE Regulations (the “Regulations”) issued by the Department of Trade and Industry (the “DTI”) on 6 June 2016 ...
ENSafrica’s MOHS department recently represented AngloGold Ashanti Limited in a South African Labour Court case, which has culminated in a judgment that sets out important legal principles and requirements. These relate to the instructions issued by Inspectors of Mines in terms of section 54 of the Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996 (the “Act”) ...
Introduction In the context of trusts situated in foreign participating jurisdictions, the Common Reporting Standards (“CRS”) require the trustees to identify the settlor, beneficiaries and other natural persons exercising ultimate effective control (including through a chain of ownership) and report the necessary financial information in respect of those persons to the relevant foreign revenue authority ...
2016 has been a busy year for IP on the African continent, with developments in Liberia, the Cayman Islands, South Africa, Zambia and Namibia, among others. Liberia: Intellectual Property Act and Swakopmund Protocol membership Liberia’s House of Representatives has approved and published the Intellectual Property Act, 2014 (the “new Act”), which repeals the Industrial Property Act of 2003. The regulations are currently being drafted ...
Witnesses giving evidence before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (“CCMA”) should take care when making statements that may expose them to defamation claims. This issue arose in the recent case of Clover SA (Pty) Ltd and Another v Sintwa, in which the High Court heard a damages claim arising from defamatory statements made by a witness while giving evidence before the CCMA ...
“The Trump Organization also earns income by licensing the Trump name to building developers around the world.” – BBC news site in an article entitled “What conflicts of interest could Donald Trump have?” Donald Trump has hogged the headlines for many months. So it’s perhaps no surprise that he’s even managed to make trade mark news ...
Can a construction contractor automatically terminate its employees’ contracts when skills are no longer required for a construction project? This question was at the centre of the Labour Court case of National Union of Mineworkers obo Milisa and Others v WBHO Construction (Pty) Ltd ...
Judge Mervyn King’s name is synonymous with corporate governance in South Africa. 1 November 2016 saw the delivery of the fourth version of the famous King report on corporate governance, King IV. So, just what does this latest report mean for IP? Well, there’s apparently no mention of the term “intellectual property” in the report at all, so one might be inclined to answer that it means nothing ...
In a rare IP law decision in Namibia, the High Court has made it clear that it takes IP seriously, that English and South African IP decisions are very relevant, and that anyone alleging passing off will need to submit compelling evidence to establish that they have the necessary reputation ...
