News > Trade Marks

Law firm Adams & Adams has long been the protector and champion of creative rights in South Africa.   Danie Strachan and Nishan Singh, partners and experts in entertainment law at the law firm, say the time has come for musicians and record labels to get to grips with the fundamental legal issues which will ultimately determine their success and the South African music industry’s growth in the future.

Adams & Adams law firm has deepened its relationship with The Loerie Awards by sponsoring the Pretoria leg of the exhibition tour. The Loeries Travelling Exhibition will be on show at The Open Window School of Visual Communication in Irene from 9 – 19 May 2012, with an official opening taking place on 10 May.

MTN SAMA awards winner – Solly Mahlangu tackles contracts and trademarks with law firm Adams & Adams

 Mwamba Mwamba!  Winner of the 2012 MTN SAMA Awards best Traditional Faith Album.  The exuberant title reflects the work of multi-award winning gospel singer Pastor Solly Mahlangu who spent two years travelling across South Africa and both East and West Africa in search of inspiration for his latest album.

Guy Hobbs, a photographer from Cape Town, has recently filed court proceedings based on copyright infringement in a US District Court against Sir Elton John, Bernie Taupin (Sir Elton’s song writing partner and lyricist) and their company Big Pig Music.

Santam has recently been a favourite for being on the receiving end of advertisement spoofs. First DialDirect made an advertisement which appears to have copied Santam’s advertisement featuring Sir Ben Kingsley in a suit walking on the beach, and now Nando’s has struck.

The 18^th annual MTN South African Music Awards was held at Sun City on 29 and 30 April 2012. The new CEO, Randall Abrahams, and his team put together a world class awards ceremony, which has been tweeted to be the best MTN SAMA ever held!

The term “cyber-squatting”, which means registering or using a domain name in bad faith with the intent to profit from the goodwill in another’s trade mark, has gained significant exposure in the last decade with the exponential growth of the Internet and the concomitant increase in user traffic.  Fortunately, there is a quick, efficient and reasonably cost effective mechanism with which to combat cyber-squatting in certain name spaces, being the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP).

Paying homage to the next generation of advertising greats – The Loeries Adams & Adams Young Creative Category

Tenacious, brave, hardworking, ‘out of the box’ , spurred on by an inner creative spirit.  These are just some of the qualities of the entrants in the Loeries Young Creatives Awards Category should have. “What’s more they represent characteristics which resonate with the Adams & Adams brand,” says Mariette du Plessis, senior partner at law firm Adams & Adams.

Chico Hamilton once said, “A lot of musicians aren't proud; they'll do other work, just to be able to play music. I guess that's the way it's always going to be - musicians will have to suffer to a certain degree in order to obtain their outlet”.

The South African Supreme Court of Appeal has handed down an important judgement for pharma trade marks. The case of Adcock Ingram v Cipla Medpro reconsidered the notion that pharmaceuticals sold on prescription are less likely to be confused because they are dispensed by trained professionals in regulated circumstances. In doing so the Court questioned the relevance of findings in a 1983 leading case, also involving Adcock, in contemporary society.

After a 20 year legal battle, the Federal Court of Canada has finally ruled that the well-known roar of the Metro-Goldwyn Mayer lion, which has been heard during the opening credits of movies produced by the film studio since 1924, can be registered as a trade mark in that country. The Registrar of Trade Marks had initially refused an application to register the sound trade mark application on the basis that it is not cable of being a trade mark.