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No. 31745
Act No. 51, 2008
GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 22 DECEMBER 2008
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS FROM PUBLICLY
FINANCED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACT, 2008
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(English text signed by the President.)
(Assented to 17 December 2008.)
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ACT
To provide for more effective utilisation of intellectual property emanating from
publicly financed research and development; to establish the National Intellectual
Property Management Office and the Intellectual Property Fund; to provide for
the establishment of offices of technology transfer at institutions; and to provide for
matters connected therewith.
B
E IT ENACTED by the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, as follows:—
Definitions
1. In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise—
‘‘BBBEE’’ means broad-based black economic empowerment as defined in
section 1 of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, 2003 (Act No.
53 of 2003);
‘‘commercialisation’’ means the process by which any intellectual property
emanating from publicly financed research and development is or may be adapted
or used for any purpose that may provide any benefit to society or commercial use
on reasonable terms, and ‘‘commercialise’’ shall have a corresponding meaning;
‘‘Department’’ means the Department of Science and Technology;
‘‘disclosure’’ means the provision of full details of potential intellectual property
contemplated in section 5 of this Act;
‘‘funding agency’’ means the State or an organ of state or a state agency that funds
research and development;
‘‘institution’’ means—
(a) any higher education institution contemplated in the definition of ‘‘higher
education institution’’ contained in section 1 of the Higher Education Act,
1997 (Act No. 101 of 1997);
(b) any statutory institution listed in Schedule 1; and
(c) any institution identified as such by the Minister under section 3(2);
‘‘intellectual property’’ means any creation of the mind that is capable of being
protected by law from use by any other person, whether in terms of South African
law or foreign intellectual property law, and includes any rights in such creation,
but excludes copyrighted works such as a thesis, dissertation, article, handbook or
any other publication which, in the ordinary course of business, is associated with
conventional academic work;
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