JOK Governance

The area of intellectual property encompasses patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. Each of these methods for protecting intangible property rights comes with distinctive features and advantages.  With the rapid growth of technology, many businesses have come up with inventions aimed at giving them a competitive edge. With these inventions comes the risk of having commercially valuable information misappropriated by competitors. To counter this risk, businesses should deploy the avenues available in law in Namibia to protect their interests and enforce their rights.   Should the company reveal its IP to the world and obtain a patent that will cover its IP for a limited period? Or should the business keep the IP secret forever and shield it by trade secret laws? Choosing the best avenue can pose a dilemma for businesses, which have to decide between patent and trade secrets as a means of protecting their IP . This article explores the benefits of trade...

In the current fourth industrial revolution, the power of intellectual property (IP) can no longer be ignored; be it in business activities and even in the most disregarded political settings. IP refers to creations of the mind: inventions; literary and artistic works; and symbols, names, and images used in commerce. The same may be protected as patent, utility model, copyright, industrial design, trademark, and confidential know-how. Principally, a trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. In recent times the international political arena has been fraught with alleged intellectual property violations . Eminem successfully sued the New Zealand National Party for infringing the copyright in his hit track "Lose Yourself"; US president, Donald Trump, upset Queen fans by using their renowned hit "We Are the Champions"  for campaign and also his wife, Melania, was accused of blatantly plagia...

You ma y have observed in newspapers and court proceedings that disputes related to intel lectu al property rights are increasing at an alarming rate. The status quo is not shocking for the obvious  reason; Intellectual Property (IP) has become a tradable commodity and made up 70  percent of total assets on Statement of Finan cial Position (SFP) of big enterprises. Certainly, such disputes are propelled by rights and benefits issues. With a general acceptance that modern invention is performed by inventors in their garages, few would differ with me that today most patentable inventive activities occur in corporate organization, and university settings, however most individuals who would be labeled inventors are employees of these institutions. With IP gaining momentum and best practices coming to light following the promulgation of IP laws, tug of war within the IP arena both in Namibia and around the world are probable.  In this article, I will discourse the issue of c...

In responding to the aspirations of Africa Agenda 2063, more than 54 member states of the African Union (AU) signed an agreement to create the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The agreement is underpinned by the AU’s vision to build an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful Africa that is a dynamic force in the international arena. Presently, Namibia is among the 28 African Union (AU) member states that deposited their instruments of ratification with the African Union. The AfCFTA is considered the world's largest free-trade zone since the establishment of the World Trade Organization in 1994 and the numbers of countries that participate in AfCFTA speak volumes. AfCFTA entered into force on 30 May 2019, and the trading under the agreement was due to commence on 1 July 2020, however, due to COVID-19 global pandemic, this date has since been postponed indefinitely.   This article ponders on importance of intellectual property protection within the free trade zone (AFC...

You may have observed in newspapers and court proceedings that disputes related to intellectual property rights are increasing at an alarming rate. The status quo is not shocking is for the obvious reason; Intellectual Property (IP) has become a tradable commodity and made up 70 percent of total assets on Statement of Financial Position (SFP) of big enterprises. Certainly, such disputes are propelled by rights and benefits issues. With a general acceptance that modern invention is performed by inventors in their garages, few would differ with me that today most patentable inventive activities occur in corporate organization, and university settings, however most individuals who would be labeled inventors are employees of these institutions. With IP gaining momentum and best practices coming to light following the promulgation of IP laws, tug of war within the IP arena both in Namibia and around the world are probable.  In this article, I will discourse the issue of commiss...

If you have lived long enough, you have witnessed mismanagement in churches, leadership crises in churches, and church divisions, all these matrices can be linked to governance crises. Church governance, sounds bizarre right? In Namibia legally-established churches are incorporated as a company limited by guarantee within the provision of section 21 of the Companies Act (Act 28/2004). Institutions irrespective of their natures are to be governed properly by complying with regulations and adopting best practices such as developing strategy, endorsing succession plan, and monitoring performance, to this church institutions, are however not excluded.   “This article is aimed to shed more light on how corporate governance relates to an associations established not for profit (Church)” Church leaders owe their organizations and each other a range of special obligations. Some of these obligations are morally related, but some also have a legal character. Surely high ethical con...

Directors are the mind, heart, and soul of an enterprise. They are the Lords of the boardroom and the entity’s sustainability is in their hands. Together, directors form a board, and collectively make decisions on behalf of an incapacitated juristic person (corporation).  A board of directors will not always find themselves in agreement and it is often the case that through frank and thorough dialogue that directors can agree upon what action to take, although it is not unusual for one or more directors to remain opposed to a decision that the rest of the directors' support.         This article explores the legal rights and responsibilities of a dissenting director in practical terms; It goes without saying that board directors should perform on their fiduciary duty through board discussions and debates.  As a Common law practice, a company director has a fiduciary duty to act; in good faith and for a proper p...