You decide that as part of your new product, you want to run a promotional competition to promote it. You spend time trying to find the perfect prize and once you find one, you realise that you aren’t sure if you can use the prize as part of the competition. You ask yourself:
- If I have bought the prize can I use it in my promotional competition?
- Do I need the permission of the holder?
- Should I add them as sponsors for the promotional competition?
The Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (CPA), doesn’t reveal much more than what the value of the prize must be and what needs to be included in the rules of your promotional competition. We believe that we can find the answer elsewhere.
The Trade Marks Act
This act gives you as the holder of a trade mark the power to use it in relation to any goods or services. If you use a trade mark you may infringe their exclusive rights. The Trade Mark Act, however, provides for certain exceptions where you won’t infringe trade marks. These are when you try to describe the:
- characteristics of the goods or services associated; and
- purpose of the goods or services.
The Copyright Act
The Copyright Act prohibits you from using a copyrighted work unless you enter into an agreement with the holder of the copyright for use or if the use falls into one of the defined exceptions within the Copyright. Unless you have an agreement with the copyright holder, you will not be able to use the copyright in your promotional competition.
How can we help you?
We can draft an opinion on the use of intellectual property in promotional competitions in accordance with the law.
Interested?
If you are interested, please complete the form on the right or enquire now. We will contact you to find more about your requirements and give you a quote.
