The Intellectual Property Owners Association’s (IPO) submission (7 February 2014, USTR-2013-0040) to USTR’s 2014 Special 301 Review expressed the following concerns with South Africa’s draft National IPR Policy. These comments are quite similar (but not identical) the the NFTC comments on South Africa.
South Africa
The South African Ministry of Trade and Industry recently published a draft National Policy on Intellectual Property (National IPR Policy).16 While we welcome many positive perspectives and positions reflected in the draft National IPR Policy, it contains a number of positions and observations on IPR that would be counterproductive and should be removed or qualified. Problematic positions include endorsement of weaker IPR in certain fields; suggestions that weak IP protections can be an effective part of a country’s industrial policy (as opposed to being reserved for extraordinary circumstances); and adoption of a broader narrative that developing countries have gained little from the protection of IPR, despite evidence of the profound benefits that such protections bring by way of increased FDI and technology diffusion. We understand that the Ministry is currently reviewing the policy and we are hopeful that problematic elements will be removed from the document.
16 Draft National Policy on Intellectual Property, September 4, 2013, accessed at http://www.thedti.gov.za/invitations/36816_4-9_TradeIndustry.pdf