Klep Values (Pty) Ltd. v Saunders Value Company Ltd. (493/84/av)
Klep Values (Pty) Ltd. v Saunders Value Company Ltd. (493/84/av) [1986] ZASCA 157; [1987] 4 All SA 147 (AD (15 December 1986)
The Supreme Court of Appeal held that engineering drawings, even if technical and utilitarian, qualify as 'artistic works' under the 1911 British Copyright Act as incorporated in South African law. The originality requirement is satisfied where the draughtsman applies skill and labour, even if the design is a team effort or based on earlier works, provided the drawings are not slavish copies. The evidence established that the respondent's drawings were original and that copyright subsisted in them. The 1948 agreement validly assigned copyright from the predecessor company to the respondent. T…
Source excerpt
- Copyright In Engineering Drawings
- Reverse Engineering
- Assignment Of Copyright
- Trade Mark Infringement
- Originality Requirement
- Design Registration Exclusion