South Africa: Licensing & Syndication

Expanding into a new market is exciting. Businesses spend considerable time planning product launches, negotiating commercial agreements, appointing local partners and pursuing growth opportunities.

Many businesses invest heavily in building their brand before checking whether their chosen name is available, only to face costly rebranding when conflicts arise. A trade mark availability search and proper registration can prevent these expensive disruptions and protect one of your most valuable business assets.

FIFA's commercial framework requires host venues to conceal non-sponsor branding during the World Cup, leading Levi's Stadium to be temporarily rebranded. When Levi's iconic batwing logo was covered with a white sheet, the company transformed this restriction into a powerful marketing moment that demonstrated the true strength of brand recognition and the difference between a trademark and a brand.

In an attempt to thwart the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), the South African government published an urgent call for proposals (CFP) for the design, development, production,...

The current Exchange Control Regulations place restrictive controls on the transfer of South African owned intellectual property (IP) to any persons or entities outside of South Africa

On 1 November 2019, ICASA published the much anticipated Information Memorandum for the high-demand spectrum licensing process for comment

The way in which we keep up with the news has changed greatly overly the past decade.

Many of our clients ask us whether they need permission to licence their intellectual property outside of South Africa.

All jurisdictions in Africa permit the licensing of trade marks and make provision for the recordal of licensees.