
The Supreme Court of Appeal today upheld an appeal against a judgment in the Court of the Commissioner of Patents in terms of which that court ordered a plaintiff who is resident in South Africa to provide security for the costs of three of the defendants. The SCA held that, in terms of s 17(2) of the Patents Act 57 of 1978, the court a quo had a discretion to order an incola plaintiff to provide security but that the court a quo misdirected itself in assuming that the parties were agreed, that in the event of it being found that an incola plaintiff could be ordered to provide security, only the quantum of such security had to be determined. The SCA thereupon considered all relevant factors and concluded that the plaintiff should not have been ordered to furnish security. One of the factors that weighed with the SCA was that the defendants had not disclosed a defence. The SCA stated that it would be quite unreasonable to order a plaintiff, an incola natural person, to provide security for the costs of an action instituted by him, at the behest of a defendant who may not even have a defence worthy of consideration. Source: Supreme Court library

3/11/2008 \| Posted in: Intellectual Property and Patents

Featured news The Consumer Protection Bill & labelling of genetically modified organisms
The Consumer Protection Bill, tabled in Parliament on the 16th September 2008, includes a clause which provides for the mandatory labelling of all foods that may contain genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). Section 24(6) of the Bill reads: “Any person who produces, supplies, imports or packages any prescribed goods must display on, or in association with the packaging of those goods, a notice in the prescribed manner and form that discloses the presence of any genetically modified ingredients or components of those in accordance with applicable regulations.”

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