Report highlights Bipa’s shortcomings
Limited awareness of intellectual property and its value in general as well as a lack of data on IP success stories are some of the challenges the Business and Intellectual Property Authority of Namibia faces.
JEMIMA BEUKES
WINDHOEK
Some of the challenges that undermine the work of the Business and Intellectual Property Authority (Bipa) includes outdated copyright legislation and a manual data system that frustrates the work of the entity.
This according to Bipa’s annual report for 2019/2020, which highlighted that the entity also struggles with competencies in technical areas such as patent substantive examination.
Further, there is limited awareness of intellectual property (IP) and its value in general as well as a lack of data on IP success stories, and therefore a lack of data on the revenue generated from these industries.
For the coming years, Bipa will look at finalising and operationalising the online filing system of IP rights applications, the rules for the industrial property tribunal and the development of a new copyright law.
It also seeks to commence with the implementation of a national IP policy as well as ratifying World Intellectual Property Organisation copyright related treaties Namibia has signed.
Data cleaning project
Meanwhile, to improve accuracy of business information on its business registration system, which is a major challenge, Bipa implemented a data cleaning project, which has so far achieved 35% data accuracy.
During this financial year, Bipa registered a total of 909 companies, which translates into a 69% decrease from the 2018/19 financial year; however, that period’s registrations can be attributed to the requirement of only submitting registered companies during fishing quota announcements.
Close corporations (CC) remain the most sought business type, with a total of 8 904 of new CCs registered during this financial year.
So far, 182 not-for-gain companies - known as Section 21 entities - were registered during this financial year.
In terms of the current business registration laws in Namibia and Bipa’s registration processes, an entity must first reserve a name before moving on to the registration of a specified entity, and so far, a total of 32 098 names have been reserved during the period under review.
[email protected]
WINDHOEK
Some of the challenges that undermine the work of the Business and Intellectual Property Authority (Bipa) includes outdated copyright legislation and a manual data system that frustrates the work of the entity.
This according to Bipa’s annual report for 2019/2020, which highlighted that the entity also struggles with competencies in technical areas such as patent substantive examination.
Further, there is limited awareness of intellectual property (IP) and its value in general as well as a lack of data on IP success stories, and therefore a lack of data on the revenue generated from these industries.
For the coming years, Bipa will look at finalising and operationalising the online filing system of IP rights applications, the rules for the industrial property tribunal and the development of a new copyright law.
It also seeks to commence with the implementation of a national IP policy as well as ratifying World Intellectual Property Organisation copyright related treaties Namibia has signed.
Data cleaning project
Meanwhile, to improve accuracy of business information on its business registration system, which is a major challenge, Bipa implemented a data cleaning project, which has so far achieved 35% data accuracy.
During this financial year, Bipa registered a total of 909 companies, which translates into a 69% decrease from the 2018/19 financial year; however, that period’s registrations can be attributed to the requirement of only submitting registered companies during fishing quota announcements.
Close corporations (CC) remain the most sought business type, with a total of 8 904 of new CCs registered during this financial year.
So far, 182 not-for-gain companies - known as Section 21 entities - were registered during this financial year.
In terms of the current business registration laws in Namibia and Bipa’s registration processes, an entity must first reserve a name before moving on to the registration of a specified entity, and so far, a total of 32 098 names have been reserved during the period under review.
[email protected]
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