Brian Kahn Inc

How to protect your invention

If you or your business created something unique, an invention that has commercial potential, you may wish to protect your invention from being stolen. Without protecting an invention, other people or businesses can copy the creation for their own commercial purposes. There are three ways in which inventions can be protected. However, it should be […]

Company Slogans: How much of it is Intellectual Property?

Slogans are key elements in advertising campaigns as brand owners hope that the public will associate the slogan with their products or services and, therefore, to their brand. For this reason, the question of protection is of high importance. What is a trade mark? A slogan is a short phrase or a sentence that a […]

Can I trade mark a phrase that is similar to another brand?

When a trade mark (brand name, slogan or logo) has been registered, nobody else can use this trade mark, or one that is confusingly similar. If this happens, legal action may result. The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (“CIPC”) administers the Register of Trade Marks, which is the record of all the trade marks that […]

How to register a trademark in 2017

If you have a business and wish to keep competitors from using, or misusing, your brand, then you should consider registering a trade mark for your company’s name and logo. A trade mark can only be protected and defended under the Trade Marks Act, 1993, if it is registered. However, unregistered trade marks may be […]

Domain names and intellectual property

There is often confusion when it comes to registering domains names and intellectual property. The reason for this is simple – when a company needs to decide on a domain name, it generally chooses one of its own trade marks. However, it might be that someone else has already registered a domain name that is […]

Is your business POPI compliant?

POPI refers to South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act which seeks to regulate the Processing of Personal Information.  What is Personal Information? Means any information relating to an identifiable, living natural person or juristic person (companies, CC’s etc.) and includes, but is not limited to: Contact details: email, telephone, address etc. Demographic information: age, […]

How do I get copyright on something?

Whenever someone creates a piece of original work based on their own idea, they are automatically granted copyright on that creation. This includes work produced by authors, musicians, computer programmers, artists etc. Once someone has taken their idea and turned it into material form, they will immediately own the copyright on their work without having […]