Cabinet has approved a draft form of a new Bill to protect Namibian patents, trademarks, industrial designs and intellectual property. This will bring Namibia in line with requirements of international treaties and guidelines. Another reason was the fear that the absence of a modern intellectual property law would deny Namibia the ability to protect and derive benefits from its indigenous plants like devil’s claw and hoodia as well as traditional knowledge, which are currently exploited by the international community without benefit to Namibia. The trade and industry minister will table the Bill in Parliament in due course.