This Legislative Decree approves a new Industrial Property Code for Cabo Verde. It updates and replaces the previous Code (Legislative Decree No. 4/2007) to align the national legal framework with international instruments to which Cabo Verde has acceded. The preamble stresses the role of industrial property in competitiveness, economic growth, investment, innovation and protection of cultural and traditional knowledge. The text records the country’s accession to multiple international agreements and regional protocols relevant to industrial property. The Code establishes modernized substantive and procedural regimes for patents, utility models, designs, trademarks, topographies of products, plant variety protection, geographical indications and appellations of origin, protection of traditional knowledge and trade secrets. It introduces provisional protection for published patent applications, protection of unregistered designs for three years after disclosure, protection for plant varieties and traditional knowledge, simplified online electronic filing and signatures, expanded trademark scope (including non-graphical representations), strengthened protection for trade secrets and confidential commercial information, and statutory remedies and sanctions against counterfeiting and unfair competition. The Code also creates rules for ARIPO, PCT, Madrid and Lisbon/Geneva systems and implements certificates for medicinal/product-related supplementary protection. The Code sets procedural rules on filing, priority, examination, publication, oppositions, revalidation, transmission, licensing, and revocation procedures, and judicial review and arbitration. It mandates the establishment/strengthening of an autonomous national industrial property office with adequate human, technical and financial resources, and foresees regulations for electronic registration, national implementing rules and control/certification systems (including for GIs). Enforcement mechanisms include civil, administrative and criminal sanctions, customs measures and evidentiary/provisional remedies. Several public bodies and stakeholders were consulted during the drafting as listed in the text.
Cabo Verde · 2025-12-02