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National minimum wage amendment bill, 2019
By Jacques van Wyk, Director and Unathi Jukuda, Candidate Attorney On 22 February 2019 the Portfolio Committee on Labour published a notice in the Government Gazette [...]
Use it or lose it!
By Janine Hollesen, Head of Intellectual Property Practice It is important that a trade mark is used as non-use could lead to the cancellation of the [...]
How long is too long? Suspension of an employee pending a disciplinary process
By Bradley Workman-Davies, Director and Mishkah Abdool Sattar, Candidate Attorney Very often, an employee is suspended while an investigation is conducted into allegations of misconduct, or [...]
Mining charter 2018 – key elements in the implementation guidelines
By Chris Stevens, Head of Mining & Resources Practice, Kathleen Louw, Director and Bronwyn Parker, Senior Associate INTRODUCTION The Mining Charter, 2018 was gazetted on 27 [...]
Court victory enables asylum seekers to claim unemployment benefits
By: The Werksmans Pro Bono Team For many years, asylum seekers attempting to claim benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) have routinely been turned away by [...]
Fixed term contracts – how are they justified?
The use of fixed term contracts of employment appeals to employers for a number of reasons, some of which are legitimate and others of which are [...]
A dismissal arising out of a failure to work overtime for religious reasons may be found to be automatically unfair
By: Jacques van Wyk, Director; Andre van Heerden, Senior Associate and Chelsea Roux, Candidate Attorney ISSUE Whether the dismissal of an employee who refused to work [...]
Woolworths Vs Ubuntu Baba Saga
2019 certainly started with a bang for Woolworths when social media carried the story of its sale of a baby carrier, which Woolworths had stated was [...]
Cutting edge issues for south african boards of directors facing financial distress in 2019
INTRODUCTION Over the years, South African directors have, from time to time been faced with claims of malfeasance, reckless trading, fraud and negligent behaviour, all of [...]
African competition law developments in 2018 and the outlook for 2019
Africa is sometimes described as the "last frontier" of competition law. This observation arises because many African countries have only recently adopted modern competition laws (South [...]
Brexit And Trade Marks – What Is Next
The following considerations and time frames concerning trade marks in the UK are expected to apply to European Trade Marks (“EUTM’s”)*: The UK and EU reach [...]
‘Deal’ or ‘No Deal’ – brexit and trade marks
By Donvay Wegierski, Director Depending on the circumstances, the following considerations and time frames concerning trade marks in the UK are expected to apply to European [...]
South Africa: primark cancelled due to non-use
By Janine Hollesen, Director Truworths brought a cancellation application against Primark Holdings’ registration for PRIMARK on the basis that the mark had not been used. A [...]
Can you copy a product of someone else?
By Janine Hollesen, Director This question was all over social media and media reports when the owner of Ubuntu Baba used the power of social media [...]
Roger federer – the ownership of the trade mark comprising of his initials
By Donvay Wegierski, Director In August 2018, tennis champion Roger Federer terminated the sponsorship agreement with Nike having entered a US$300 million contract with Japanese casual [...]
Ten things you need to know about amendments to the Competition Act
On 4 December 2018 the National Council of Provinces voted to approve the Competition Amendment Bill of 2018. With this vote, the Bill has now completed [...]
Long road to data protection
On 14 December 2018, the Regulations relating to the Protection of Personal Information were finally published by the Information Regulator ("Regulator") under section 112(2) of the Protection [...]
The national minimum wage bill is now law
By: Bradley Workman-Davies, Director and Megan Livingstone, Candidate Attorney On 23 November 2018, the president of the Republic of South Africa ("RSA"), Cyril Ramaphosa, assented to [...]
Direct marketing: the wild west to be tamed by POPIA
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Head of Data Privacy Practice The POPIA[1] centres around eight Conditions detailing how personal information should be handled while regard is given to [...]
Trade mark your cannabis concept
Brand owners take note, the movement to legalise the possession and consumption of cannabis is real. With the growing global trend to recognise cannabis as legal, [...]
Hey administrator, did you consult with the public and stakeholders on that decision?
A win for communities and the environment, but yet another hurdle for an ailing mining sector. The impact of the recent judgments involving Atha–Africa Ventures (Pty) [...]
Constitutional Court judgment: CCT 265/17 Maledu v Itereleng Bakgatla Mineral Resources
On 25 October 2018, the Constitutional Court in case number CCT 265/17 handed down judgment in an application for leave to appeal against the decision of [...]
Are landlords and property owners better off with the proposed Amendment to Chapter 6?
The anticipated amendments to the Companies Act 71 of 2008 have proposed one change to Chapter 6 of the 2008 Act. It is somewhat surprising that [...]
Dawn raid in a box
A dawn raid can be carried out on any business, big or small, and companies must be mindful of the possibility of a raid. It is [...]
New Commercial Courts to include intellectual property matters
On 3 October 2018, the Judge President of the Gauteng division of the High Court issued a Commercial Court Practice Directive, which will apply to the [...]
