Commercialisation of traditional knowledge in South Africa: whether the existing intellectual property framework encourages commercialisation.

Agan, William

Commercialisation of traditional knowledge in South Africa: whether the existing intellectual property framework encourages commercialisation.

Thesis

2013

Abstract

Intellectual Property today as internationally recognised covers patents, industrial designs, copyright, trademarks, know-how and confidential information. 1 The current available modes for protecting Intellectual Property (IP) in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) are Patents, Trade Secrets, Copyrights, Trademarks and Industrial Design. Common law remedies are also available to parties whose rights have been infringed. The legislations governing these Intellectual Property (IP) regimes were passed at different periods, some before South Africa became a republic in 1963 and others thereafter, while others were passed after the abolition of apartheid in 1990. For those legislations passed before the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Prope1iy Rights (TRIPs) in 1994, the RSA had to amend or repeal and enact laws which are TRIPs compatible. However, an area of IP for Indigenous people, also known as Traditional Knowledge (TK), has not been adequately protected due to complexities which cannot be accommodated by an international IP regime. This has led to poor or inadequate commercialisation of TK. TK is also not provided for by TRIPs, thus relegating it further. The scope of this paper is limited to commercialisation of TK. However, it must be appreciated that _ commercialisation cannot take place in a vacuum. Thus protection of TK is a prerequisite to its commercialisation.

Keywords

Intellectual property

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