In July 1876, barely a month following the novel's initial release in England, demand for copies of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was outstripping supply in the United States. Ordinarily, Twain would have been delighted at the news, except for the fact that the book wasn’t due for release in North America for another four months. Canadian publishers, Belford Brothers, had exploited some ambiguity in the Canadian Copyright Act of 1875, making their ‘pirated’ editions perfectly legal. It was a slight against Twain that saw him spend the remainder of his career fighting to see copyright laws changed. In an angry letter to his friend, Rollin Dagget, he referred to lawmakers as ‘muttonheads’, and declared, “Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet."

There is no finer human achievement than the ability of individuals such as Mark Twain to enrich the world by exercising their intellectual and creative ability, best exhibited through their intellectual creations, their literary and artistic works, their designs, innovations and inventions; and Intellectual Property is that branch of law which should, and generally does, protect some of those finer manifestations of human triumph. But as Twain discovered, much to his chagrin, the protection of intellectual creations is often interpreted and applied differently in the different territories of our world.  It is for this reason that creators and innovators need to have a good understanding of the protection afforded to intellectual property in their territory.

Intellectual Property (IP) is one of the most dynamic and debated branches of law – not only national law but also international law. The intangible nature of intellectual property and its ability to cross national borders consistently force countries to adapt to the mutable commercial seasons of trade and creativity. More recently, through the ‘China debate’, IP has even been a key topic of the American presidential election campaigns; and it is the mutability but also mobility of IP that forced lawmakers in South Africa to develop some of the most advanced legislation against ‘ambush marketing’ in sporting history, for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

For over a century, Adams & Adams Attorneys has been at the forefront of Intellectual Property law on the African continent, boasting the largest IP law practice in South Africa. The founding brothers, Harry and Eustace, had begun a tradition, in 1910, of regularly publishing IP handbooks for practitioners and industrialists, and the LexisNexis Group recently encouraged the firm to carry that tradition forward by publishing a comprehensive Practitioner’s Guide to Intellectual Property Law in South Africa – a book that, in Adams & Adams Chairman, Dario Tanziani’s words would “assist owners and practitioners to navigate a course through the minefield and seek expert advice in an informed manner where the route starts to look uncertain.”

True to form, Adams & Adams delivers a remarkable new book, a most thorough introduction to the fundamentals of IP law in SA. It is ideal for the layperson who wants to study the modern South African intellectual property landscape, yet it goes beyond the context of basic IP protection to discuss emerging concepts as well as inside information immediately useful in the real world. In short, it is the next step in the advancement of IP management up the ladder from an art form to a science.

Managing Editor, Esmé du Plessis oversees a style that prompts and guides the reader through a book that should prove invaluable to those who need to acquire enough of an understanding of the material to keep out of trouble. Du Plessis is to be commended for insisting on a handbook that is easy to read and is free of jargon and difficult legal language. The new volume of work develops a neat foundation with an introduction to IP in the international context, and then expands on the leitmotif with sections on Patents, Trade Marks, Designs, Copyright, Plant Breeders’ Rights, IP in the marketplace, economic influences, and the interface of IP with other aspects of law.

In understanding that the book may prove to be a ‘go to’ book for many practitioners, Adams & Adams has distilled their years of experience into a complete manual that also cites relevant laws, cases and treaties. In so doing, the book is an interesting read, and provides specialists with a superb springboard for delving into case law and relevant treaties. To add to the comprehensive nature of the book, a CD-Rom is supplied that includes texts of South African intellectual property regulations, as well as relevant international treaties.

The Practitioner’s Guide to Intellectual Property Law is an essential read for anyone managing an enterprise that invests resources in innovation, as well for artists, inventors, marketers and developers who need guidance on protecting the intellectual property from their creative efforts, and on deriving revenue and value from them as well. After being read, it should be kept close as a handy desk reference.

To order a book, contact: handbooks@adamsadams.com