Sara-Jane heads up our Intellectual Property (IP) department and is a member of our firm’s managing executive committee.
Having run her own boutique IP law firm from 2010, she is a specialist in the field. Prior to opening her own law firm, Sara-Jane trained at one of South Africa’s top IP law firms and served as senior corporate counsel at two multi-national, blue-chip companies from 2004 - 2009, during which time she was a member of both companies’ executive committees being responsible for wide-ranging global IP, commercial, regulatory, and strategic projects.
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Whilst she represents a diverse spectrum of local and international clients on wide-ranging IP matters in different sectors and manages significant trade mark portfolios, some of Sara-Jane’s successes include:
- representing a leading motor vehicle replacement parts organisation, Grandmark International, against a trade mark and design infringement action instituted against it by BMW, where certain declaratory, interdictory and ancillary relief was brought by BMW. The court’s ruling in this matter had the effect of changing the legal interpretation of Section 35 of the Designs Act, 195/1993, as amended. As a result of this judgment, Sara-Jane advised various international intellectual property forums in discussions around trade mark and design protection and enforcement
- representing a local manufacturer (Bliss Brands) of cleaning and laundry products against a large multinational competitor (Colgate-Palmolive) and the ARB, where the matter started out in the ARB, progressed to the High Court of South Africa, proceeded to the Supreme Court of Appeal and landed in the Constitutional Court. The matter involves trade-marks, advertising, packaging, labelling and passing-off elements that culminated in a novel constitutionality argument in so far as the ARB’s authority over non-members is concerned
- assisting a multinational pharmaceutical company, Lupin Ltd, in obtaining approval from the Department of Trade Industry and Competition (DTIC) to enter into an Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP) for its SA subsidiary, Pharma Dynamics (Pty) Ltd in terms of the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Regulations
- advising extensively on South Africa’s Exchange Control Regulations governing the export of Intellectual Property to off-shore entities and obtaining approval from the South African Reserve Bank
- Presenter on Intellectual Property at an African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) webinar (December 2021) for women entrepreneurs
- Presenter on South African Reserve Bank Exchange Control considerations at the Isle of Man Indaba (October 2023)
- for three consecutive years, Sara-Jane was recognized by Chambers and Partners for her work in Intellectual Property Law in South Africa
- Sara-Jane Pluke was recognised by her peers for her outstanding work in Intellectual Property in the 15th edition of The Best Lawyers
- Sara-Jane received a bronze ranking by WTR1000 for trade mark, enforcement and litigation
- admitted Attorney of the High Court of Southern Africa
- Fellow of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property
Sara-Jane Pluke obtained her
- BA Degree, University of Natal, 1994
- LLB Degree, University of Natal, 1996
- Post graduate diploma in Company Law at the University of Stellenbosch, 1998
- Certification from Wits University for Competition Law, 2018