13 Sep 2017

The role of Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA) is to work with the media to ensure that people know and understand their mandate and are able to set up new businesses and protect their creations.

Speaking at an intellectual property awareness workshop for media practitioners, Ntesang Sebetso, director of compliance, awareness and client services at CIPA said it was through the media’s efforts that people would understand the importance of businesses as well as their relationship and value add to the individuals and the economy.

“With information dissemination, we create a knowledgeable nation which is able to utilise opportunities both at individual and national level to set up businesses and create employment and wealth for those who are involved in various sectors more especially the creative sector,” she said.

She said it was therefore important that as major information dissemination outlets, the media should put out information that would lead the way for people to make informed decisions.

“Gone are the days when we went to school to be employed, but rather our focus should be to go to school to employ ourselves through various businesses or our intellectual property which can be used to generate income,” said Sebetso.

Sebetso noted that ‘government recognises the importance of the creative industry in diversifying the economy and is in the process of developing the Creative Industries Strategy to guide initiatives to improve the sector.’  

“Our efforts in putting the spotlight on the sector can go a long way in inspiring creatives to follow their talents full time rather than part time thus creating employment and getting returns on their investment,” she continued.

She said CIPA continued to count on the media’s co-operation and support for the effective implementation of laws.

She said it was essential for CIPA to continuously engage with stakeholders such as the media through a forum such as this one to tap into their experiences and insights, which would greatly improve working relationship.

Sebetso said the reason why CIPA and the US Embassy created this platform of the workshop was because they both value the role that the media plays in creating awareness and sensitising the public on various issues affecting them, intellectual property is amongst them.

“You are a critical stakeholder in putting information out there to inform and educate different sectors, more especially the creative and innovation industry in our country mainly because the industries are still in their infancy.

Today’s forum provides an opportunity for engagement on issues that affect intellectual property, especially in relation to the copyright and industrial property laws,” she said.

She further indicated that CIPA had fully been transformed from a government department to a parastatal under the Ministry of Investment Trade and Industry.

“We are able to perform all those functions through the powers vested in us by the four pieces of legislation being the Companies Act, Registration of Business Names Act, Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act as well as the Industrial Property Act,” she concluded.

Other stakeholders such as the police, magistrates and artists among others are set to attend their own workshops hosted by CIPA for two weeks to create awareness on copyright and industrial property laws. Ends