(475) DOES THE LAW HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOUR?
Sallying furth of Scotland in the spirit of internationalism, Scots Law News found Mr Justice Albie Sachs of the South African Constitutional Court asking himself this question in Laugh It Off Promotions CC v South African Breweries International (Finance) BV, Case CCT 42/04, 27 May 2005, a case deciding that freedom of expression could offset trade mark rights when considering whether parodic use of a trade mark infringes these rights. Justice Sachs’ elegant judgment proves that, whatever the state of the law, his sense of humour is fully engaged: so he refers (in a footnote) to the example of a T-shirt lampooning the Standard Bank brand as Standard Wank while keeping the bank’s motto simpler