On 11 November 2013 the IP Unit welcomed Dr. Colin Darch – an honorary research associate in our law faculty’s DGRU and one of the founders of the international CopySouth research group –  for a lunchtime seminar in the law faculty. Dr. Darch presented an account of developments in intellectual property law and policy since the end of the apartheid regime in 1994 in an attempt to provide a much needed general overview from a critical perspective of the political economy of copyright, patents, trademarks, geographical indications and so on as a system. Dr. Darch highlighted exemplary cases from South African jurisprudence and characterised various stakeholder groups, incl. politicians, lawyers, creators of IP, universities. He then linked current South African policy and law to developments in the international IP and trade environment. His presentation was followed by a lively discussion with members of the IP Unit and other invited guests.