Cases referred to in judgment
South Africa
Apleni v Minister of Law and Order and others; Lamani v Minister of Law
and Order and others [1989] 1 All SA 71 (1989 (1) SA 195) (A) Referred
to
481
Candid Electronics (Pty) Ltd v Merchandise Buying Syndicate (Pty) Ltd
[1992] 1 All SA 322 (1992 (2) SA 459) (C) Referred to
482
Coopers (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd v Deutsche Gesellschaft fur
Schadlingsbekampfung MBH 1976 (3) SA 352 (A) Referred to
493
Fourie v Uys [1957] 1 All SA 25 (1957 (2) SA 125) (C) Referred to
482
Galago Publishers (Pty) Ltd and another v Erasmus [1989] 1 All SA 431
(1989 (1) SA 276) (A) Discussed and Applied
484
Gentiruco AG v Firestone SA (Pty) Ltd [1972] 1 All SA 201
(1972 (1) SA 589) (AD) Referred to
493
Jacana Education (Pty) Ltd v Frandsen Publishers (Pty) Ltd [1998] 1 All SA
123 (1998 (2) SA 965) (SCA) Referred to
498
Nampesca (SA) Products (Pty) Ltd v Zaderer and others [1998] JOL 2757
(1999 (1) SA 886) (C) Referred to
482
National Director of Public Prosecutions v Zuma [2009] 2 All SA 243
(2009 (2) SA 277) (SCA) Referred to
481
PlasconEvans Paints Limited v Van Riebeeck Paints (Pty) Ltd [1984] 2 All
SA 366 (1984 (3) SA 623) (A) Discussed and Applied
481
Pricewaterhousecoopers Incorporated and others v National Potato Co
operative Ltd and another [2015] 2 All SA 403 ([2015] ZASCA 2) (SCA)
Referred to
493
Setlogelo v Setlogelo 1914 AD 221 Referred to
482
Page 480 of [2015] 3 All SA 478 (WCC)
United Kingdom
Ladbroke (Football) Ltd v William Hill (Football) Ltd [1964] 1 All ER 465 (HL)
Referred to
484
Judgment
GAMBLE J:
Introduction
[1] The respondent ("OUP") is a South African publisher of a variety of literary works including dictionaries, in this
case for use by school learners. Its parent company in the United Kingdom is the publisher of one of the
world's most recognised set of dictionaries: a dictionary that is a household name and, further, which is often
consulted in litigation where the meaning of words is sought or explored.
[2] The applicant ("Media 24") is the print media arm of a large listed media company, Naspers Limited. Media 24
publishes, inter alia, dictionaries for the local market through one of its trading arms known as "Pharos
Dictionaries". Pharos' list of titles includes monolingual Afrikaans dictionaries, as well as bilingual Afrikaans
English/EnglishAfrikaans dictionaries, also for use by school learners.
[3] In 1993 Tafelberg Publishers Limited, the predecessor of NB Publishers Limited, published a bilingual
dictionary for use by school learners called the "Tweetalige Aanleerderswoordeboek". This was followed by a
revised edition in 1998 under the Pharos title and another edition in 2006 which was repackaged as the
Pharos "Learner's Dictionary for Schools".
[4] In 2007, OUP published its "AfrikaansEnglish/EnglishAfrikaans School Dictionary", whose front cover
incidentally contains the byline "the world's most trusted dictionaries".
[5] In October 2011, NB Publishers Limited (as Tafelberg was then known, and an entity ultimately subsumed in
the corporate structure of Naspers) began work on a new Pharos bilingual Learner's Dictionary. In that
process , it says, it discovered that OUP had apparently copied certain of its earlier titles, thereby breaching
its rights of copyright under the Copyright Act, 98 of 1978 ("the Act"). OUP disputed that claim and Media 24
then approached this Court on application for interdictory relief restraining OUP from infringing its copyright in
its Afrikaans English Learner's Dictionary for Schools by making any reproductions and/or adaptations thereof,
in particular, by the publication and/or sale of its Oxford AfrikaansEngels/English/Afrikaans School Dictionary.
OUP denies that it is in breach of copyright as alleged.