Galago Publishers (Pty) Ltd and Another v Erasmus 1989 (1) SA 276 (A)

Galago Publishers (Pty) Ltd and Another v Erasmus 1989 (1) SA 276 (A)

Facts

Galago Publishers (Pty) Ltd and Another (Galago) published a book called "Top Secret War". The book was a collection of articles about the South African Border War. Erasmus, a former soldier, wrote one of the articles. Erasmus later wrote another article, called "Pictorial Account of the South African Border War". In this article, Erasmus copied large parts of his article from "Top Secret War" without permission from Galago.

Galago sued Erasmus for copyright infringement. Erasmus argued that he had not infringed Galago's copyright because he had copied his own work.

Issues

The main issue in the case was whether Erasmus had infringed Galago's copyright by copying his own work.

Reasons

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) held that Erasmus had infringed Galago's copyright. The court reasoned that Galago owned copyright in the layout of the articles in "Top Secret War", and that Erasmus had copied the layout of his article from "Top Secret War".

Layout of the articles

The SCA explained that copyright protects the layout of a book if the layout is original and the result of the author's skill and labor. The court found that the layout of the articles in "Top Secret War" was original and that it was the result of Galago's skill and labor.

Copying of the layout

The SCA also found that Erasmus had copied the layout of his article from "Top Secret War". The court reasoned that there were too many similarities between the layout of Erasmus' article and the layout of the articles in "Top Secret War" to be a coincidence.

Conclusion

The SCA allowed Galago's appeal and ordered Erasmus to pay damages for copyright infringement.

Summary

The case of Galago Publishers (Pty) Ltd and Another v Erasmus (1989 (1) SA 276 (A)) is a landmark case in South African copyright law. The case is particularly important for its analysis of the following issues:

• The scope of copyright protection; and
• The meaning of originality in copyright law.

The SCA's decision that copyright protects the layout of a book if the layout is original and the result of the author's skill and labor is significant. The decision means that authors have copyright in the overall design of their books, including the arrangement of the text, images, and other elements on the page.

The SCA's decision that Erasmus had copied the layout of his article from "Top Secret War" is also significant. The decision means that copyright infringement can occur even if the infringer copies their own work. If the infringer copies the layout of their work from a protected work, they may infringe the copyright in the protected work.