South Africa’s Restrictive IP rules

Continuing on the issue of Intellectual Property (IP), there are indications that SA’s stringent intellectual property (IP) exchange laws may be relaxed. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) currently administers restrictive export controls on SA-owned IP, which require SA residents to get approval before transferring or licencing IP to non-residents. This discourages cross-border sales of SA IP and prevents its citizens from maximising the potential of their intellectual creations – including fintech. An example is probably Flutterware, one of the most successful SA fintech businesses, which is registered in Mauritius.