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advosalmon@mweb.co.za

sacoronavirus.co.za

Hey,
I'm Owen
Salmon

intellectual property
lawyer and author

profile

Owen consults, gives advice, prepares written Opinions, creates documentation and provides in-court advocacy services in relation to intellectual property law.

As an IP specialist, Owen has represented clients since 1985, litigating in all divisions of the High Court, the Commissioner of Patents, the Registrar of Trade Marks, the Copyright Tribunal, the Advertising Regulatory Board, the Supreme Court of Appeal, the Constitutional Court and in arbitrations and mediation.

He is a panellist for Intellectual Property Arbitration Centre, South Africa (www.ipac-sa.co.za). As a Senior Adjudicator on the panel of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law (SAIIPL) for domain name disputes, Owen has delivered numerous seminal judgments both as a single and as an appeal panellist. He has served as an acting Judge in the High Court and sits as an arbitrator. He is a commercial mediator accredited by Conflict Dynamics. For over a decade, Owen was the External Moderator of the trade mark law examination for SAIIPL and is a moderator for the Patent Examination Board. He has lectured on the LLM programme at University of Johannesburg and moderates trade mark, patent and copyright examinations for that degree. He has given guest lectures in trade mark law and copyright law at UCT and Stellenbosch University, including the 2022 Intellectual Property Law Public Lecture, now on YouTube here. Owen has published numerous articles and academic papers in relation to intellectual property law. In addition to being a contributing author of the South African chapter for the international publication “Trademark Dilution and Freeriding” (Elgar Intellectual Property Law and Practice, 2023) Owen has authored the works referred to below. Owen was interviewed on National television about his debut novel, "A Weakness to Die For" here. The book has been translated into Afrikaans by the literary luminary, Frederik de Jager, under the title "'n Saak van Liefde of Dood".

Until her untimely passing in November 2023, Owen was married to Isabeau, a musician. Their eldest son, Pierre, is a thermodynamics engineer working in the UK. Their second son, Dion, is a CA working in corporate finance in London, and their daughter, Margaux, a Stellenbosch alumna, is the Operations and Events Manager at La Mare Wine Estate, Jersey, Channel Islands.

Owen is in a relationship with Dr Suretha Swart, a Clinical Psychologist.

  • BA LLB LLM (Intellectual Property)
  • Senior Counsel for the Republic of South Africa
  • Fellow of the South African Institute for Intellectual Property Law
  • Attorney of the High Court of South Africa (1985 – 1992)
  • Advocate of the High Court of South Africa (1992 to date)
  • Member of the Johannesburg Bar
  • Senior Adjudicator for Domain Disputes
  • Accredited Commercial Mediator (Conflict Dynamics)
practice

the best that I can

(The motto of Owen’s primary school in Gwelo, Rhodesia – and his personal maxim ever since.)

Throughout his career, Owen has advised and litigated to protect the intellectual property rights of  the following entities – and many others:

Absa Bank   ●   Accelerate Property Fund   ●   African Revolutions   ●   Ashton Bulk   ●   Auto Trader   ●   Automotive Tooling Systems   ●   Aveng Africa   ●   BASF   ●  Beacon Sweets & Chocolates   ●   Black & Decker   ●   Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation   ●   BMW   ●   Bokomo Cooperative   ●   Browns Jewellers   ●   Caxton Group of Publishers   ●   Choice Hotels International   ●   Cipla Medpro   ●   Clover SA   ●   Coca Cola Company   ●   Cochrane Steel Products   ●   Col’Cacchio Restaurants   ●   CompTia Inc   ●   Continental Biscuit Manufacturers   ●   Dis-Chem   ●   Ditsong – Museums of SA   ●   Dolce Vita Footwear   ●   Ecolab   ●   Ellies Electronics   ●   Enersul   ●   Engage Property Technology   ●   Filipa (Carmo Da Silva)   ●   First National Bank   ●   Gallo Music Publishers   ●   GlaxoSmith Kline   ●   Global Roofing Solutions   ●   Golden Fried Chicken   ●   Growthpoint Properties   ●   Honda Motor Corporation   ●   Hugo Boss   ●   Imperial Cold Storage   ●   Interpark SA   ●   La Liga   ●   MDA Property Systems   ●   Medford Pharmaceuticals   ●   Mercedes-Benz   ●   Metso Minerals   ● Mitsui & Co   ●   M-Net   ●   Motion Picture Association   ●    MRI Software   ●   Namib Mills   ●   National Association of Broadcasters   ●   National Brands   ●   New Balance Athletic Shoes   ●   Nintendo Company   ●   Nu Metro   ●   Online Lottery Services   ●   Paym8   ●   Pepkor   ●   Pioneer Foods   ●   Plasticolors   ●   Proctor & Gamble   ●   Ralf Schmitt   ●   Reign Beverage Company   ●    Salomon   ●    Sid Forman Jewellery   ●   South African Medical Association   ●   Stadium Management SA   ●   Ster Kinekor   ●   St Gobain   ●   STX Music Publishing   ●   Supercart SA   ●   SuperSport International   ●   The Apartheid Museum   ●   The North Face   ●   The Registrar of Trade Marks   ●   Transunion   ●   Travelwings   ●   Tsogo Sun   ●   University of Johannesburg   ●   Vans Inc   ●   Warner Brothers   ●   Yuppie Gadgets   ●   ZA Central Registry   ●

Many of the cases have produced seminal judgements from South African Courts, including several from the Supreme Court of Appeal.

He has been entrusted to do so by the following attorneys  – amongst others.

Adams & Adams   ●   Baker McKenzie   ●  Berdou Attorneys   ●  Bouwers   ●   Bowmans  ●   Darren Margo Attorneys   ●   Dewey Hertzberg Levy  ●   Don MacRobert  ●   ENS  ●   Eversheds   ●   Fairbridges   ●   Friedland Hart Solomon Nicholson  ●  Glyn Marais   ●   Hahn & Hahn  ●  Hogan Lovells   ●  Ian Levitt Attorneys   ●  Irish MacLeod   ●  Jeff Boulton Attorneys   ●  Jordaan & Wolberg   ●  Kisch IP   ●  Knowles Husain Lindsay   ●   Macrobert  ●   Mark Saltzman Attorneys   ●   Martin Brauer Attorneys   ●  Martin Hood & Associates  ●   McCallum, Rademeyer & Freimond   ●    Norton Rose Fulbright ●   Kampel Kaufmann Attorneys  ●   Pierce Phukubje Matjiela   ●   Rademeyer Attorneys   ● Ramsay Webber   ●  Robin Twaddle Attorneys   ●  Rod Christie   ●   Ron Wheeldon Attorneys   ●   Savage Jooste & Adams   ●   Schindlers  ●  Smit Sewgoolam   ●   Spoor & Fisher   ●   Von Seidels  ●   Webber Wentzel  ●    Werksmans

publications

books

Law Made Simple - Compliance for Business, Citizens and our Government

The first edition of this work, titled Lawful Living, was honoured with an endorsement by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. The 2nd edition, revised and updated, is available from Protea Books - see www.proteabooks.com. The open source version is accessible at www.lawfulliving.co.za.

Intellectual Property Made Simple

Written for the layman and non-specialist practitioners, this work explains the basics of copyright, designs, patents and trade mark law in easily understood terminology. The book has received several endorsements from leading IP jurists, academics and business executives. It was published by Siber Ink Publishers in January 2021 and is available from leading bookstores, Takealot and Loot.

A Weakness to Die For

This fictional narrative traces the lead-up to an official inquest in the Cape Town High Court into the mysterious death of the young Icelandic au pair to a family of one of Cape Town’s luminaries in the legal world. Told through his own lenses, one current and one retrospective, A Weakness to Die For delves dramatically into the dark and powerful demons of Peter Truman’s past that he becomes driven to confront. See the televised interview here. Available from Exclusive Books and other leading bookstores, as well as from Amazon on Kindle.

articles

  • A Precedent Created in Company Name Objections, published in De Rebus, July 1986.
  • Restraints of Trade and Goodwill of a Business, published in Businessman’s Law, August 1989 (Juta).
  • The Case of the Stripped-down Sittable: Copying the Competition, published in Businessman’s Law, December 1990 (Juta).
  • 2001 – a Trade Mark Odyssey, published in De Rebus, June 2002.
  • When is use of a trade mark not trade mark use?, published in De Rebus, June 2009.
  • Casting s15 (3A) of the Copyright Act into Outer Darkness, published in Without Prejudice, February 2012.
  • Arbitrating Intellectual Property Disputes, published in Without Prejudice, March 2013.
  • Encounters of a fast kind – Formula 1, trade secrets and the law, published in Without Prejudice, April 2013.
  • Intellectual Property and the SCA (Part 1), published in Without Prejudice, October 2017.
  • Intellectual Property and the SCA (Part 2), published in Without Prejudice, November 2017.
  • The case of the interdict for which the Plaintiff did not ask, published in Without Prejudice, June 2020,

academic papers

  • Judicial Discretion in Sentencing, published in Criminal Justice in South Africa (Juta) 1983.
  • Dilution as a Rationale for Trade Mark Protection in South African Law, published in South African Law Journal November 1987.
  • Statutory trade mark infringement and questions about confusion, published in Intellectual Property Law Journal, 2019 (Juta).
leisure

Owen has enjoyed an active sporting life. He completed 5 Comrades Marathons, ran countless marathons and other ultras, swam Midmar, participated in Masters Swimming Championships, and competed in several triathlons and bike races. Until a recent knee replacement, he played tennis every week, and competed as a Taekwon-do First Dan black belt. Owen’s biggest sporting challenge is to get to the golf course.

His other big love is music. A significant proportion of Owen’s practice as an advocate concerns copyright in music, including neighbouring rights, and
performers’ rights. His father being a highly experienced organist, choirmaster and composer, Owen grew up in a musical milieu. He is an avid listener with wide tastes and is also a keen amateur musician, having played clarinet and guitar from his early teenage years, and still does. For over ten years he played lead guitar in a six-piece band he founded, performing 60’s – 80’s hits for parties, weddings and corporate functions. The band undertook three tours of the Cape, played countless gigs and produced two CD’s. Owen has a modest collection of guitars – some of which are played and some of which are locked away.

Owen rises early to take a walk, do some Pilates and  then meditate before breakfast.  He gyms in the evening.

Contact

Owen accepts briefs on professional matters only from practising attorneys.
For enquiries relating to his books, and for workshops, lectures, and presentation of papers on intellectual property law, use the form below.