Patents

Inventa International has carried out a study on patenting activity in Mozambique, presenting some statistics highlighting a profile of the main patent applicants, and the technologies they relate to in the country.

To be granted in Mozambique, a patent application may be directly filed before the Mozambican national patent office (IPI) or can be filed before the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), where an applicant requires Mozambique as a designated state.

We are proud to announce that our firm, Inventa International, is distinguished as Leading IP Firm for Trademark and Patent Prosecution and Highly Recommended firm in IP Litigation, in Leaders League 2021 Portugal ranking.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Industrial Property Law has been in force since 1982. Article 5 stipulates that there are three kinds of patent:

When it comes to patenting inventions in Africa, apart from direct filings in the country of interest using the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, applicants can choose between two regional offices: the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI) and/or the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO).

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) came into effect on January 1, 2021 and is the largest trade area in the world by number of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The objectives outlined in article 3 of the treaty include the establishment of a common market for products and services, a regional customs authority, enhancing the competitiveness of member states’ economies both in Africa and globally, and promoting industrial development.

Trademarks have dominated Cape Verde’s IP field at the expense of other rights such as patents and industrial designs for many years. But this scenario could be about to change, says Diana Pereira of Inventa International.

As is the case in many countries, trademarks have taken the biggest IP share in Cape Verde ever since the creation of the region’s IP rights legislation. This has been to the detriment of other rights such as patents, utility models and industrial designs, which are all poorly represented in the jurisdiction.

The African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) encompasses two major regional protocols: the Banjul Protocol for the protection of trademarks and the Harare Protocol for the protection of designs and patents.

Signatories to the Banjul Protocol are Botswana, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

We are proud to see Inventa International distinguished in the World Intellectual Property Review - WIPR Leaders 2021 ranking, which highlights the world’s leading IP practitioners across patent, trademark, and copyright practices.

Congratulations to Vítor Palmela Fidalgo, Legal Director at Inventa International, who has been selected as outstanding IP practitioner in Portugal, categories Patent and Trademark Leaders, in the WIPR Leaders 2021 global ranking.

Introduction

This study aims to provide an approach of the topics followed by a patent examiner when a patent application is processed by a Patent Office during the substantive examination phase, in the context of the Angolan Patent Law (APL). As a matter of comparison, the same topics are evaluated according to the European Patent Convention (EPC), wherein we focus on the main differences between the two legal frameworks.