By Charlene Musiza
On Tuesday 15 May 2018, the South African Department of Trade and Industry – supported by the IP Unit, the WITS Institute for Social and Economic Research and the Shuttleworth Foundation -organised a workshop to discuss the recent publication ‘Innovation and Intellectual Property in South Africa: The Case for Reform’.The workshop, held at the WITS Institute for Social and Economic Research, had a distinguished panel of intellectual property practitioners and researchers: Dr Tim Burrell, Alison Dyer, Advocate Jonathan Berger and Achal Prabhala. The workshop was moderated by Marumo Nkomo, Director: Legal – International Trade & Investment at the Department of Trade and Industry.
South Africa is currently reforming its intellectual property law and policy landscape and as recently as 23 May 2018 the South African cabinet approved the Intellectual Property (IP) Policy of the Republic of South Africa- Phase 1. Though the policy is yet to be gazetted, it is a welcome development that government has taken a rather bold step towards law reform and policy in this area. The workshop saw a robust discussion that highlighted some of the key issues at stake when it comes to reforming intellectual property laws in South Africa, especially in the context of patents.