Having dispensed with the Ms, Afro-IP's online investigator Kingsley Egbuonu travels to the bottom left-hand side of Africa to the first of the continent's three Ns -- Namibia -- in his 36th review of official IP websites offered by Africa's nations. This is what he found:
"Overview
Namibia is a Contracting Party to several intellectual property treaties including the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. It is also a member of ARIPO.
Copyright Office
• The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (Copyright Services) is the competent office responsible for copyright and related rights in Namibia.
• The website for this Ministry is www.mict.gov.na
Industrial Property Office
• The Ministry of Trade and Industry, Industry and Internal Trade is the competent office responsible for the administration of intellectual property rights in Namibia.
• The website for this Ministry is www.mti.gov.na
Social Media Presence
None found.
Intellectual Property update in Namibia
• The Namibia Industrial Property (NIP) Bill which aims to repeal and replace various IP laws -- reported here by Afro-IP -- is yet to be enacted. However, the Namibian Sun reports that the Bill has passed through the National Council and awaits Presidential assent.
Conclusion
Afro-IP applauds Namibia’s effort towards legal certainty in its IP regime as well as ensuring that it meets international standards.
We hope that the passage of the NIP Bill into law can spur the relevant Ministries into action to bring its IP offices closer to its national and international users with dedicated websites".
Kingsley tweets as
@IPinAfrica
