The Federal Government has approved the establishment of the Nigerian Intellectual Property Commission.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa (SAN), who disclosed this in an interview with our correspondent on Friday, said NIPCOM would be responsible for the administration intellectual property matters in the country.

He said this at the opening of the four-day management retreat of the Nigerian Copyright Commission in Abuja.

He said, “My ministry has in collaboration with relevant agencies been working to ensure that the new body is established and put on a firm statutory foundation.”

“The draft bill for the establishment of NIPCOM and other important reforms of the intellectual property system is receiving due attention at the appropriate government level.”

The AGF, however, refused to comment on what the Federal Government had done about the stolen classified documents tendered against it at a London court penultimate week.

Our correspondent gathered that the take-off structure of NIPCOM would be formed from the fusion of the NCC with the Trade and Patent Department of the Ministry of Commerce.

It was also gathered that while the government of Olusegun Obasanjo approved the NIPCOM in 2006, the draft bill could not be prepared until now.

The delay in the preparation of the draft bill two years after has elicited the concern of the National Assembly.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters and the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Justice expressed a willingness to expedite action on the bill as soon as it was received.

House Committee Chairman, Hon. Henry Dickson, confirmed that lawmakers were still waiting for the bill from the executive.

Source: Punch