DTIC presents “a roadmap for innovation”

SA's Intellectual Property Overhaul was the subject of a presentation to the parliamentary portfolio committee on trade and industry when Elizabeth van Reenen, Chief Director of Trade at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), gave MPs a detailed review of the country's plan to revise its Intellectual Property policy.   This overhaul, described by some in the legal fraternity as ‘rather ambitious’, dates back to initial discussions in 2016 between government and the private sector aimed a modernising South Africa's IP landscape in alignment with global best practices and national development objectives.

Both IP and Copyright law in South Africa date back to before the introduction of digital communications and DTIC has had a major task on its hands to update both in line with the current global to Intellectual Property trends in marketing and manufacturing generally but specifically in the application of copyright law.  The new Copyright Act suffered from political intervention right from the start