South Africa: Trademark

As celebrities like Taylor Swift, Luke Littler, and Matthew McConaughey increasingly turn to trade mark law to protect their voices, faces, and personal likenesses from AI-generated deepfakes, a critical question emerges: can trade mark registration truly safeguard personal identity in the age of generative AI? This article examines the legal strategies, commercial rationale, and inherent limitations of using trade mark law as a shield against unauthorized exploitation of celebrity personas.

With just weeks to the beginning of the World Cup, that will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the world will be focusing on the pitch. However, almost everything that makes this multibillion-dollar business remains invisible to people.

This comprehensive legal update covers recent developments across South African law, from pharmaceutical naming regulations and copyright platform liability to VAT amendments affecting insurance and digital services. The collection explores emerging challenges in intellectual property protection, cryptocurrency regulation, and data brokering, while examining how AI and digital transformation are reshaping traditional legal frameworks.