Copyright Law

• • Copyright law protects the material expression of ideas, apart from the physical embodiment of the work in which they are expressed. All
    matters relating to copyright are regulated by the Copyright Act 98 of 1978.
    
    Copyright has a few unique characteristics:
    
    • copyright rights are territorial in nature – the law of the country in which protection is sought governs copyright.
    
    • Copyright is a negative right – the right to stop others from doing certain things, in other words, to stop pirates, counterfeiters, imitators.
    
    • Copyright is a bundle of rights – it protects the author’s moral rights (to be identified as author of the work) and economic rights
    to exploit the work commercially).
    
    • Copyright protects material expressions rather than ideas underlying the work, but exists separately from the physical
    embodiment of the work.
    
    • Copyright is an exclusive right of limited duration, subject to limitations and exceptions – as soon as the term of copyright
    expires the work falls in the public domain and can be freely used by others.
    
    In copyright law it is important to draw a clear distinction between the author of the work and the holder of the copyright. It is
    standard practice to refer to the holder of copyright as the copyright owner. Even though the term “owner” is not correct
    since only corporeals can be owned, therefore the term “quasi- ownership” should be applied to incorporeals such as copyright
    rights.
    
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    Hi, I’m Kailash Pillay, an attorney from the city of Johannesburg. My passion for the law
    stems from a desire to improve upon the lives of the vulnerable who fall prey to a
    corrupt system.
    I studied at the University of Johannesburg where I obtained my Bachelor of Laws
    degree, the starting point to the long journey of becoming a legal practitioner.
    This profession has taught me to persevere through the complexities of the law and to
    continually develop my skills as a legal professional.