Adams & Adams supports World Intellectual Property Day
26/04/2010

Intellectual property law firm Adams & Adams supports the World Intellectual Property Day exhibition being held at Sammy Marks Square, Pretoria.

“Keeping South Africa competitive in the global ‘knowledge economy’ is a priority of the South African government,” says Adams & Adams Chairman Dario Tanziani.

“Legislation like the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Funded Research and Development Act and the Technology Innovation Agency Act have been written and substantial tax incentives for research and development given.

“We welcome the government’s commitment to stimulating local technological innovation and protecting the fruits of that innovation. As a nation, we need to concentrate on developing our engineering, scientific and technical capabilities to meet the socio-economic challenges which we face,” says Tanziani.

“Entire industries have been built around intellectual property, like the biotech, pharmaceutical, cell phone and computer industries to name but a few. The value of many businesses lies in their intellectual capital, of which intellectual property, particularly patents, registered designs and trade marks form a significant part.

“It is therefore of great importance to the future growth of the South African economy that greater emphasis is placed on funding local technology start-ups and assisting them to protect their ideas and their revenue streams. This has been the formula for the success of many developing country economies, of which South Korea is a good example.”

Tanziani says local artists also need their creations to be protected against piracy and counterfeiting.

“In this regard the Counterfeit Goods Act plays a vital role in protecting our local music industry.

“Together with legislation which regulates ambush marketing, South Africa has an effective intellectual property regime that ranks with the best in the world. It has been a vital component in the success of international events like the 2003 International Cricket Council World Cup and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, which were hosted here, and will be enforced vigorously during the 2010 FIFA World Cup this year.

“Valuable indigenous traditional knowledge and genetic and biological resources too must be protected and their value extracted for the benefit of the relevant communities. There has been much debate surrounding the appropriate medium to do this, but there is no doubt that the principle is sound,” says Tanziani.