The irresistible force of freedom of speech meets the immovable object: trade mark law in South Africa

Legal context. The right of freedom of expression is a fundamentalright entrenched in the Bill of Rights incorporated in the SouthAfrican Constitution. While intellectual property rights donot enjoy this status, they are internationally recognised rightsgranted by a law of general application and may thus in termsof the Constitution limit the fundamental rights protected inthe Bill of Rights, and more particularly the right of freedomof expression. Where the enforcement of trade mark rights comes into conflictwith the right of freedom of expression, the two rights mustbe weighed up against one another and the competing interestsof the owner of the trade mark against the claim of expressionof a user without permission must be considered. The departurepoint of the weighing up process is that neither right is superiorto the other. Key points. This article discusses an action brought by SabmarkInternational, which claimed that Laugh It Off Promotions CCinfringed its registered trade mark BLACK LABEL in respect ofbeer by using a corruption of this mark with strong politicalundertones as ornamentation on T-shirts sold by it. It was claimedthat the offending use diluted Sabmark's registered trade mark.In an appeal, the Constitutional Court rejected the claim onthe basis that Sabmark had not shown that the offending usewas likely to cause economic damage to it. Practical significance. The case in effect equated trade markrights with rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights and thusgave important recognition to intellectual property rights.It created a precedent in intellectual property law, if notin South African law in general, in that the constitutionalcourt overruled a decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA)and in effect ruled that the SCA had not interpreted the relevantprovision of the Trade Marks Act correctly.     

Knowledge of police and court procedures and respect for the law a survey

Data were collected measuring knowledge of procedures and civil liberty protections in the juvenile justice system. In addition, questions from the Rundquist-Sletto Respect for Law Scale were used to assess attitudes toward the system. Three hundred ninety-six subjects, selected through stratified random sampling, were instructed to answer twenty-eight forced-choice questions on procedures and six Guttman-type scale questions on attitudes toward authority, all presented in the context of a brief scenario. Subjects were also asked to indicate age, sex, race, and previous arrest. Several questions were identified as applications of the Miranda decision, and the hypothesis was confirmed that these would be most often answered correctly by all subjects.A brief survey of the development of a separate juvenile justice system is presented. The authors concluded that by relying on informal channels of communication about its role, the court does not meet its obligation to educate the public.     

The determination of glyoxalase I phenotypes in human bloodstains

A method is described for the determination of glyoxalase I phenotypes in liquid blood and dry bloodstains. The frequencies of glyoxalase I phenotypes in various populations of S.E. England are included.     

Self-disclosure: Implications for the study of parent-adolescent interaction

Self-disclosure is a process by which persons make themselves known to each other. As such, it is an integral part of the family interaction process. In families in which adolescents are present, interaction may change as a result of changes in degree, topic, or rate of self-disclosure. Self-disclosure of adolescents and parents may change as a result of adolescent development, specifically changes in cognitive and physical development and self-concept. Implications of changes in self-disclosure are discussed in relation to parent-adolescent interaction.Received M.S. from Winthrop College, Rock Hill, S.C. Major research interests include parent-adolescent interaction and adolescent development.