Moneyweb v Media 24: Can unlawful competition succeed where copyright has failed?

• Citation: (2018) IPLJ 108
• Pages: 108-119
• Author: Geyer, S.
• Date: 24 May 2019
• Published date: 24 May 2019

MONEYWEB V MEDIA 24: CAN



SUCCEED WHERE COPYRIGHT

HAS FAI L ED?

 1

Associate Professo r, Department of Mercantile Law, Universi ty of South Africa

 

In Moneyweb (Pty) Ltd v Media 24 Ltd and another (‘M oney web’ ) it was

   

 1

 

competition.2



in unlawfu l competition at the beginni ng of the judgment,3 unlaw ful

competition was not recognis ed as a central issue in thi s case.4 At the end

of the judgment, after the leng thy and detailed copyrig ht discussion,5 the

 6 I n just



succeed where its claim of copyrig ht infr ingement has failed.7

The court relied on Payen Co mponents SA Ltd v Bovic CC and others8 to

make it clear that copyright i nfringement and un lawful competition (in the

form of passing off in Paye n) should not be blurred:

‘In my opinion a Cour t should be wary of allow ing the sharp outl ines of these two est ablished

branches of the law of un lawful compet ition [copyright and pass ing off], evolved thro ugh

long experience , to be fudged by allowing a vague p enumbra around the outli ne. Unlawful

   

mark, copyr ight, design or passing off ac tion. In most such cases it is one of the e stablished

categories or noth ing.’ 9

 BProc LLB LLD (U P). I should like to t hank Richard Shay for being suc h a patient sounding

board for my thoug hts on Moneyweb. Any mi sreadings that re main are mine.

1 [2016] 3 All SA 193 (GJ) para [5].

2 Moneyweb (n 1) par a [3].

3 Moneyweb (n 1) par a [3].

4 Moneyweb (n1) para [6].

5 Moneyweb (n1) paras [7] – [131].

6 Moneyweb (n1) p aras [132] –[135].

7 Moneyweb (n1) p ara [135].

8 1995 (4) SA 441 (A).

9 Payen Components at 453GH, as quoted in Money web para [13 4].

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(2018) IPLJ 108

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