Art law clinic South Africa

Within the framework of a joint project of law students at Stellenbosch University and the civil law department of the Institute for Information, Telecommunications and Media Law at the WWU Münster, great things have been achieved in the past few weeks. With the creation of a comprehensive guide for artists, which provides answers to the most important legal questions in the everyday life of artists, the foundation stone was laid for the first branch of an “Art Law Clinic” in South Africa. Following the example of the interdisciplinary project that has grown up at the WWU and has enjoyed great popularity for four years now, a flourishing cooperation between art students and law students can now also develop in Stellenbosch.

The guide is based on various contributions by students at the South African university who voluntarily devoted themselves to current issues in South African copyright law out of personal as well as academic interest.

“The research field of art and copyright law has interested me for a long time due to its dynamic development. Especially against the background of the current copyright reforms in our country, I wanted to take the opportunity to become part of this new project,” reports a student from Stellenbosch University.

The cooperation was supported and led by Prof. Thomas Hoeren, head of the institute and an enthusiastic media and copyright lawyer.

“A substantive cooperation beyond the borders of national and European law was a great challenge, but at the same time an indispensable enrichment that sharpened our view of other legal traditions and the development of copyright in the world,” Prof. Hoeren summarises the project work.

A regular exchange between the two Art Law Clinics will also take place in the future in order to follow each other’s development and to benefit from the respective experiences.