As will be apparent from perusing the articles posted on the IPSTELL blog indicated by the keywords “traditional knowledge”, The Vine Oracle (the voice of the Stellenbosch Chair of Intellectual Property) has been forthright in its criticism and condemnation of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill which seeks to introduce a special form of protection for so-called “traditional knowledge” into each of the Trade Marks, Copyright, Designs and Performance Protection Acts (the Bill is commonly known as the Traditional Knowledge Bill).  The Vine Oracle has been the proponent of the viewpoint that, if some form of special protection for traditional knowledge is required, this should be provided in a sui generis statute which is customised to meet the requirements and characteristics of the subject matter sought to be protected.

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Written by Prof Owen Dean, Faculty of Law, Stellenbosch University