The Counterfeit Goods Act relates to trademark rights, copyright, and rights conferred in terms of Section 15 of the Merchandise Marks Act, for example in regard to any mark, word, letter, etc. to be used in connection with any trade, business, profession, occupation or event or in connection with a trademark or trade description for goods.
The Merchandise Marks Act relates to:
- false trade description applied to goods themselves or to any covering, label or reel in or with which the goods are sold;
- the sale or offering for sale or letting of goods to which a false trade description has been applied;
- alterations (such as effacement) of trademarks;
- rights conferred in terms of Section 15 of the Act, which rights may for example relate to a mark, word, letter or figure or combinations thereof to be used in connection with any trade, business, profession, occupation or event;
- the sale or distribution of imported goods not produced in South Africa but bearing the name of a South African manufacturer or trader without an indication of origin, or bearing a trademark or trade description in an official language of South Africa without an indication of origin;
- the unauthorized use of certain emblems, including the coat of arms of South Africa, the title, name, portrait or effigy of the President or Deputy President or a Minister, the reproduction of any monument or relic;
- the purchase or sale of any container or closure therefore marked with the owner's name, or any goods contained in such container.
The Customs and Excise Act No. 91 of 1964 prohibits (in Section 113(1)(g)) the importation of unlawful reproductions of copyright works.
