Browsing by Subject "Intellectual Property Rights"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    3D-printing : a new challenge for intellectual property?
    (2015) Fuhrmann, Thomas; Schonwetter, Tobias
    The most important rights, which state such a balance between these two parties, are the rights of intellectual property. Thus, an important question is to what extent 3D-printing conflicts with intellectual property rights. In general, intellectual property balances the rights between the owners of genuine products and their use through third parties. On the one hand the intellectual property rights give exclusive rights to the genuine owners, on the other hand they give as well some important exceptions for the use of third parts material. Hence, the purpose of this work is to examine, which intellectual property rights are affected by the production of a 3D-printed object. In each of the following chapters I will look at the different categories of intellectual property rights. I will examine in how far the creators of a CAD, the uploaders who upload a CAD on a website for a free or commercial download, the website owners who facilitate that uploads and the printers, whether private or with a commercial purpose, may be in conflict with any intellectual property rights. The most important intellectual property rights, which could be affected, are copyright, patents, registered designs, trade marks and passing off. For the present investigation it will be necessary to have a closer look at the different steps of the developing process of a 3D-printed product. More precisely, we have to differentiate between the creation of the CAD, the uploading of a CAD and finally the home-printing or the printing on demand through a specialised company. The aim of this work is to show how these single steps conflict with intellectual property rights and how the different actors in this process are liable for any infringing activity and in how far their activity is covered by any exception. Furthermore, we will also examine whether current legislation and jurisdiction appropriately address issues brought about by this new technology. Because of the reason, that the issue of 3D-printing in relation to intellectual property is quite a new one, this work will occasionally have a look abroad to other jurisdiction how they already dealt with similar problems. With this in mind, especially the US, European and German jurisdiction and laws will be regarded.
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    Commercial arbitration in cyberspace: the legal and technical requirements towards a more effective Lex Electronica Arbitralis
    (2017) Kritzinger, Julian; Rycroft, Alan; Ncube, Caroline
    Online Arbitration is an online alternative dispute resolution (OADR) process that resolves disputes without litigation outside national courts. Due to globalisation and increased e-commerce, international commercial online arbitration has become more important and it is therefore essential to look at the legal and technical requirements for a more effective international online arbitration regime or lex electronica arbitralis, specifically focused on disputes that arise from cross-border, low value e-commerce transactions for both goods and services, and especially between online businesses and consumers (B2C), but also between online businesses (B2B). The lex electronica arbitralis should lead to swift outcomes that will be able to be enforced efficiently anywhere in the world, without impairing the requirements of accountability, due process, efficiency, impartiality, independence, fairness, transparency, etc. The 'UNCITRAL Technical Notes on ODR of 2016' follows a non-binding guideline format, so there is currently no legal outline that exclusively regulates online arbitration. Due to this lacuna, the guidelines of the 'Technical Notes' and rules of traditional international commercial arbitration will have to be used as far as they accommodate online arbitration. Due to its unique features, online arbitration however needs an exclusive set of rules that will deal with its legal and technical requirements. The most comprehensive manner to have realised an online arbitration regime or lex electronica arbitralis would have been by the proposed 'UNCITRAL Draft Procedural Rules (DPR) on OADR for Cross-Border E-Commerce Transactions'. Unfortunately, since Working Group III (WG.III), who was mandated by UNCITRAL to compile the 'DPR', could not manage to reach consensus on many aspects, the 'Technical Notes' was adopted instead. The thesis will review WG.III's progress to complete the 'DPR' and how it eventually led to the adoption of the 'Technical Notes'. The 'Technical Notes' still leaves many questions and uncertainties on many of online arbitration's legal and technical requirements that will be pointed out. The thesis will indicate that these legal and technical requirements do not compose insurmountable challenges, but that UNCITRAL will have to address them when they decide to revise the 'Technical Notes' in the future or when they decide to compile a set of legal standards exclusively for online arbitration in the future. The focus will also be directed to the future of international arbitration legislation in a developing country such as SA, while a plea is made to SA lawmakers to make provision for online arbitration.
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    Games, copyright, piracy : South African gamers' perspectives
    (2010) Malczyk, Anna; Haupt, Adam
    This thesis examines video games, copyright law and gamers' attitudes to copyright infringement, with particular reference to South Africa. The work provides an overview of the debates about copyright law and digital media, and offers an analysis of attitudes expressed by South African gamers about copyright infringement, popularly termed 'piracy'. The thesis reveals that, while about 70% of the gamers in this study share content illegally, they express complex and varying motivations for doing so, and have various and conflicting means of understanding the supposed illegality of the act. Some of the issues raised by participants in this study relate to contested perspectives on Digital Rights Management (DRM). In this work, I argue that DRM erodes civil liberties and does not necessarily extend the interests of gaming corporations. In this regard, the thesis explores alternative strategies to the restrictive approaches adopted by advocates of DRM as well as prohibitive copyright laws and multilateral agreements on intellectual property. In essence, this work intends to establish middle ground between gamers, who place a high premium on usability and affordability of gaming products, and the gaming corporations, who are interested in extending market share as well as protecting what they deem to be their intellectual property.
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    Patent system and its role in the conservation of South African biodiversity
    (2017) Sadaf, Naeema; Schonwetter, Tobias
    South Africa is a biologically diverse but technologically less advanced economy. Like many other developing countries in the world, its biodiversity is exposed to danger due to certain human activities. Among these, patents are charged as the easiest routing for misappropriation of indigenous biological resources and traditional knowledge associated therewith. Being member of the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity, South Africa is under obligation to ensure that its patent system supports the Convention's objectives including biodiversity conservation and sustainable use rather than its destruction and decline. The purpose of this dissertation is not only to dilute this misconception about South African patent system but to prove that with an access and benefit sharing mechanism it is an effective tool for biodiversity conservation, capacity-building and industrial development in the country. To make the system more protective of the rights of the indigenous communities, various modifications have also been proposed in the existing stature of the Act.