Copyright Infringement Protection - South Africa
In the past, copyright infringement had provided some protection against the parallel importation of gray goods into South Africa. However, it provides no protection in the absence of copyright infringement. For the first time the South African government enacted a statutory remedy affecting gray goods in general and published a Notice in the Government Gazette that attemps to deal with the problem by defining various gray-goods business practices unlawful and prohibited. The notice effective February 9, 2007 defines business practice whereby branded products imported without the trade mark owner' authority are advertised, promoted and or offered for sale to end users and where end users have not been alerted by the seller that it (a) is not designated by or on behalf of the trade mark owner as an authorised distributor of the branded product; and (b) that the authorised South African distributor is under no obligation to honour the manufacturer's warranties/guarantees and/or after-sale support.
The wording of the notice is intended to force the sellers of gray goods to inform consumers that they are not authorized by the trademark owner to distribute the product and that the authorized South African distributor is not under any obligation to honor the manufacturer's guarantees, warranties or after-sales support. Non compliance of the notice would be considered as an unfair and unlawful business practice under the Consumer Affairs Act 71 of 1988.
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