Adams & Adams

Adams & Adams Realise African Enterprise
Africa's top Intellectual Property Law Firm and a leading Corporate, Commercial and Property Law Practice in South Africa.

Adams & Adams is a leading African law firm specialising in intellectual property, in addition to providing corporate and commercial legal services. The firm has grown into a South African law icon, with the largest intellectual property law practice in Africa supported by a strong commercial, property and litigation practice. Adams & Adams has been rooted in over 100 years of legal excellence sin

ce its founding in 1908. The firm is characterised by a strong commitment to professionalism, and client care and partner accessibility are two of the cornerstones of the practice. The firm has offices in South Africa (Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban) and 23 associate offices across the continent. Adams & Adams also has a worldwide network of attorney correspondents and associates, enabling the firm to handle intellectual property and legal matters in any country where this may be required.

16/06/2026

Today, South Africa commemorates Youth Day, a moment to remember the past, reflect on the present and recommit to the young people shaping our future.

On 16 June 1976, the youth of Soweto stood against injustice and changed the course of our history. Their courage remains a powerful reminder of the value of conviction, the importance of education and our shared responsibility to the next generation.

At Adams & Adams, we are proud to support the development of young legal talent across South Africa and the continent, from our candidate attorneys and graduate programme to the professionals building careers that will help shape the future of African enterprise.

To the youth of South Africa, today we honour your voice, your potential and your future.

11/06/2026

The FIFA World Cup™ is one of the most commercially valuable events on earth, and one of the most tightly protected.

Brands are free to market around football and the excitement of the tournament. What they cannot do is market the World Cup itself without being an official sponsor. The line between the two is not always obvious, and the consequences of crossing it can be swift and public, as Bavaria Beer discovered at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

In this practical legal guide, Darren Olivier, Danielle van Deventer and Mandla Ngidi of Adams & Adams unpack the key principles brands need to understand: what constitutes unauthorised association, where ambush marketing crosses into unlawful conduct, what is genuinely permissible, and how courts across multiple jurisdictions have approached these questions.

A timely read for marketers, in-house counsel and brand teams activating around the tournament: [LINK]

10/06/2026

Counterfeiting is not a victimless crime.

On World Anti-Counterfeiting Day, we join the global effort to raise awareness of the scale and impact of fake goods. The OECD and EUIPO estimate that trade in counterfeit and pirated products reached approximately $467 billion in 2021, accounting for 2.3% of world trade. Behind those figures are legitimate businesses and consumers exposed to serious financial ruin, leading to job loses, and safety risks.

The harm caused by counterfeiting is multifaceted. Consumers face heightened health and safety risks from substandard or dangerous fake goods, ranging from medicines to motor vehicle spare parts (and anything in between). Rights holders lose sales, brand integrity and value, and the returns on innovation, while governments lose tax revenues and face growing burdens on enforcement and public health systems. More broadly, counterfeiting undermines trust in markets and international trade, fuels organised criminal networks, and is often linked to exploitative practices, including forced labour.

Protecting brands is at the heart of what we do. From trade mark registration and enforcement, anti-counterfeiting litigation and regulatory enforcement across Africa, Adams & Adams works with rights holders to safeguard the value of their intellectual property and take action against infringement.

Today is a reminder of why this work matters, for businesses, for consumers, and for the integrity of markets across the continent.

05/06/2026

Our expertise in patent law has once again been recognised.

Adams & Adams is proud to be recognised in the 2026 IAM Patent 1000: The World's Leading Patent Professionals, with 12 partners individually acknowledged for their outstanding contributions to intellectual property law, the highest number of ranked partners in South Africa.

For our clients, this recognition reflects the calibre, consistency and commercial insight we bring to complex patent matters, from prosecution and portfolio strategy to litigation and cross-border protection across South Africa and the broader African continent.

We congratulate our recognised partners on this well-deserved achievement: Alexis Apostolidis | Danie Dohmen | Russell Bagnall | James Davies | Janice Galvad | Johnny Fiandeiro | Nicky Garnett | Pieter Visagie | Vishen Pillay | Wilhelm Prozesky | Dr Joanne van Harmelen | Sophia Smallbones

Thank you to our clients for your continued trust and partnership.

Brand owners operating in Tanzania should take note of an important development in trade mark recordal practice.The Fair...
05/06/2026

Brand owners operating in Tanzania should take note of an important development in trade mark recordal practice.

The Fair Competition Commission (FCC) has clarified that trade mark recordal applications supported by foreign, international or ARIPO registrations will no longer be accepted. Recordals must now be based exclusively on valid Tanzanian national registrations.

This stricter position follows the Tanzanian Court of Appeal’s decision in Lakairo Industries Limited, which reaffirmed the principle of territoriality and declined to enforce an ARIPO registration in Tanzania. While ARIPO provides a regional filing mechanism, its effect in member states depends on domestic recognition. In Tanzania, the Banjul Protocol has not been fully domesticated.

The practical implication is clear: brand owners without Tanzanian national registrations must file local applications and wait for registration before proceeding with recordal.

If your brand is active in the Tanzanian market, now is the time to review your portfolio, identify marks that require local protection, and prioritise registration accordingly.

Read the full newsflash here: https://buff.ly/fglw7iU
The Adams & Adams Africa trade mark team can assist with Tanzanian filings, portfolio reviews and recordal strategy. Please direct enquiries to [email protected].

04/06/2026

Even for courts, new technology still demands careful legal thinking.

A recent Gauteng High Court judgment in Mangundhla v South African Reserve Bank has found that Bitcoin qualifies as both capital and money under South Africa’s Exchange Control Regulations. While the classification of Bitcoin as capital is well reasoned, the conclusion that it constitutes money raises more difficult questions, particularly when assessed against established legal definitions.

The judgment also grapples with whether transferring Bitcoin to a foreign exchange wallet amounts to an export of capital. In doing so, it highlights the challenge of applying traditional exchange control concepts to decentralised, borderless systems like blockchain, where value does not move in a physical or geographically fixed sense.

Dale Healy, Attorney specialising in trade mark and copyright enforcement, unpacks the decision, exploring where the reasoning is persuasive, where it is open to challenge, and what it means for the future treatment of digital assets in South Africa: Bitcoin, Barter and the Blockchain: https://buff.ly/hiousFM

What does intellectual property have to do with sport? Quite a lot, as it turns out.Join Adams & Adams’ Marcelle Samons,...
02/06/2026

What does intellectual property have to do with sport? Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Join Adams & Adams’ Marcelle Samons, Attorney and Trade Mark Practitioner, and Steven Ball, Director of TuksSport at the University of Pretoria and Acting CEO of the High Performance Centre, for a Licensing Executives Society South Africa webinar on the role of IP in sport, branding and performance.

From trade mark protection for sporting brands to the commercialisation of athlete IP, the discussion will unpack why intellectual property is an important consideration for anyone working in sport, business or brand protection.

18 June 2026 | 4:00 PM SAST | Online via Zoom

Register here: https://lesi-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/DVCaggHKSumgvM3QRe67zw

Eid al-Adha Mubarak.Wishing you and your loved ones a peaceful, blessed celebration filled with joy, gratitude and toget...
27/05/2026

Eid al-Adha Mubarak.
Wishing you and your loved ones a peaceful, blessed celebration filled with joy, gratitude and togetherness. From the partners and staff at Adams & Adams.

Happy Africa Day.Today, we mark the founding of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 and celebrate a continent whos...
25/05/2026

Happy Africa Day.

Today, we mark the founding of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 and celebrate a continent whose enterprise, creativity and potential continue to inspire what comes next.
At Adams & Adams, Africa is not just where we work. It is who we are. With offices in four major cities in South Africa and 23 associate offices across the continent, we are proud to support the innovators, creators and businesses building Africa's future, helping them protect what they build, realise opportunity and grow with confidence.

To our colleagues, clients and partners across the continent, we celebrate with you today and remain committed to helping realise African enterprise.

We are proud to congratulate Jean-Paul Rudd, Partner at Adams & Adams, on completing his MSc (Cum Laude) in Climate Cha...
19/05/2026

We are proud to congratulate Jean-Paul Rudd, Partner at Adams & Adams, on completing his MSc (Cum Laude) in Climate Change from the University of London.

His dissertation, "The Feasibility of a State-Owned Crop Insurance Scheme for Smallholder Farmers in South Africa", examines the challenges faced by smallholder farmers in the context of climate-related crop losses and considers whether a state-supported crop insurance model could offer a feasible, policy-driven solution.

This is a significant personal achievement and one that strengthens Adams & Adams' thinking at the intersection of insurance law, agricultural risk, and climate policy. These are areas of growing importance for our clients and the broader market.

Jean-Paul, congratulations on this well-deserved achievement.

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Lynnwood Bridge, 4 Daventry Street
Pretoria
0081

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Monday 08:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 08:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 08:00 - 17:00
Thursday 08:00 - 17:00
Friday 08:00 - 17:00

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+27 12 432 6000

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