South Africa Case Law

Bergh and Others v Agricultural Research Council (93/2019)

Bergh and Others v Agricultural Research Council (93/2019) [2020] ZASCA 30; [2020] 2 All SA 637 (SCA); 2020 BIP 455 (SCA); [2020] HIPR 119 (SCA) (1 April 2020)

Court

Supreme Court of Appeal

Case number

93/2019

Judges

Navsa, Wallis, Van der Merwe, Schippers, Mojapelo

The Supreme Court of Appeal found that the ARC failed to discharge the onus of proving ownership of copyright in the BeefPro computer program. The evidence established that Tim Pauw, acting independently and without remuneration or supervision, developed BeefPro under an oral agreement with the ARC, which expressly reserved copyright to Pauw and his corporate vehicle, BenguelaSoft. The ARC did not exercise the requisite control over the making of BeefPro to be considered its author under the Copyright Act. Draft agreements and correspondence confirmed that BenguelaSoft was to retain copyright…

Source excerpt

• Copyright In Computer Programs
• Authorship And Ownership
• Commissioned Works
• Unlawful Competition
• Statutory Interpretation
• Administration Of Justice

Haupt t/a Softcopy v Brewers Marketing Intelligence (Pty) Ltd. and Others (118/05)

Haupt t/a Softcopy v Brewers Marketing Intelligence (Pty) Ltd. and Others (118/05) [2006] ZASCA 40; 2006 (4) SA 458 (SCA); 2006 BIP 317 (SCA) (29 March 2006)

Court

Supreme Court of Appeal

Case number

118/05

Judges

Harms, Streicher, Mthiyane, Cloete, Lewis

The SCA held that Haupt owned copyright in the Data Explorer program and that the respondents infringed it by copying substantial parts of its code.

• Copyright In Computer Programs
• Originality Requirement
• Database Protection
• Infringement Of Copyright
• Authorship And Control
• Copyright-in-computer-programs