Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development, Gabriel Sinimbo says despite progress made in research and innovation to advance intellectual property awareness, piracy remains a problem.

Namibia has so far registered 924 trademark applications with the Business and Intellectual Property Authority of Namibia (BIPA) from about 3 038 last year.

BIPA has also conferred copyright status to 190 businesses from 204 applications while 37 patterns from 64 submissions for approval were certified.