After leaving the Namibian Society of Composers and Authors of Music last year where he was CEO for over a decade, John Max is now focusing on championing intellectual property rights – a grey area, he says some creatives don’t really understand.
He told VIBEZ! his IP consultancy work was established 10 years ago but he could not fully focus on it because of his duties as the head of the Namibian Society of Composers and Authors of Music (Nascam).
“I really could not do much with it as I was overloaded with Nascam responsibilities and other international executive duties. I have started to implement the dream I have longed for
to provide consultation work in Intellectual Property rights for the creative and cultural industry.
“There is a lot to be done to formulate the creative industry and also seriously protect our local innovation and add value to it. Our creative people need to be educated on their IP rights and how they can benefit from what they have created for the market,” he explained.
IP rights give the creator the right to stop others from making unauthorised use of that property for a limited period.
Max is on a campaign to educate any and all on their rights associated with intangible assets owned by a person or company and protect these against unauthorised use.
“Our company will provide insight, information, and knowledge to creatives to improve their value and rights on their products.”
He added that Namibia has few policies on the creative industry but there is no political, economic, or financial support to move the industry to where it should
be.
“Therefore, we need to improve the current financial support or allocate enough funding for creatives. The institutions that were set up to cater for the creative industry are not funded
well enough to carry out their mandates and this leads to the creative industry failing.”
Max pointed to a recent campaign undertaken by the government called ‘My Namibia, My Country, My Pride’ [launched in April 2011]: “Did the government really invest enough in that campaign or design a strategy on how to get the unified and national pride project? The government needed to get private partnerships to drive this particular project for it to bear fruit for all”.
The former Nascam CEO said he will be working closely with the Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA) as they both serve the same interests.
“Among other things, we will be conducting IP education sessions, both on copyright and intellectual property rights; research IP matters and analyse them; provide statistics on IPs, and fair information on cultural activities; provide value identification to IP products and services; and appraise the value of IP products and services.”
Max says he does not harbour any ill feelings towards Nascam after his sudden and unexpected resignation in December last year.
“I left Nascam on a firm foundation and it is up to the leadership to carry on the collective management organisation principles. I wish them a bright future always,” he said.
He added that every leadership has its own way of handling issues and he was already prepared to build up the transition to the next leadership.
“I am not looking back with a faded vision but with a positive attitude to move forward and live my dream with a bright vision ahead of me.”