Browsing by Subject "patents"

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    Open Access
    ‘Equitable Intellectual Property Protection of Computer Programs in South Africa: Some Proposals for Reform’
    (Juta, 2012) Ncube, Caroline
    This paper provides a brief overview of the copyright, patent and trade secret protection of computer programs in South Africa and then sets out suggestions for how this protection could be altered or better implemented to create a more equitable balance between creators’ and users’ rights. The overview of intellectual property (“IP”) protection of computer programs is brief as there is already a substantive body of South African specific literature that discusses it extensively. This paper’s main focus is the evaluation of the equity of the protection and making reform proposals. A computer program is a series of instructions which enable a computer to perform a task or achieve a result.3 Computer programs are created in human-readable source code which is then compiled or translated into machine-readable object code. In copyright parlance, object code is “merely an adaptation of source code”.
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    Open Access
    Patents and traditional knowledge: facing biopiracy
    (2010) Klocke, Julia; Kinderlere, Julian; Milius, Djims
    Humankind has always been dependent on Earth and its biological diversity.1 For generations, humans have passed on their knowledge about life, livelihood, nature and biological resources, and relied upon biodiversity for many commercial products.2 Today, biodiversity is recognised as a 'highly strategic resource with commercial potential comparable to that of petroleum or uranium'. 3 The biotechnology sector 4 has emerged as a major industry in recent years. The possibility of altering living material to develop new kinds of medication and agricultural products is worth billions of dollars. 5 Companies around the world have expanded their study of the natural world and rely upon the knowledge and guidance of local communities who have profound knowledge of these biological resources. Scientists believe that the cure for diseases lies hidden in the 'green gold' of the Southern hemisphere.6 Consequently, the economic value of these biological resources is regarded as very high. In fact, commerce involving biological products and processes now accounts for almost half of the world economy.