Patent registration in Mozambique. Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeastern Africa. Although Mozambique was one of the poorest countries in the world, this country has seen a sharp increase in the past few decades. More than 1,200 mostly small state-owned enterprises have been privatized. Preparations for privatization and/or sector liberalization were made for the remaining parastatal enterprises, including telecommunications, energy, ports, and railways. The government frequently selected a strategic foreign investor when privatizing a parastatal. Additionally, customs duties have been reduced, and customs management has been streamlined and reformed. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of patent registration in Mozambique.
Patent in Mozambique
According to Mozambique Law, a patent in Mozambique is a grant of a property right given by the Government to an inventor. With a patent, the inventor, or the patentee will have the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling the invention in a country, or importing the invention into a country, along with other rights to protect their best interests.
To be patentable in Mozambique, an invention must satisfy the new, nonobvious, inventive, and industrially applicable requirements.
In addition, an invention that is patentable can also be an improvement on existing items or methods.
On the other hand, the unpatentable subjects in Mozambique are:
- Discoveries, laws of nature, and mathematical methods;
- Aesthetic designs;
- Systems, rules, and methods for the performance of mental labor, games or management, computer programs;
- Presentation of data and abstract ideas.
Necessary documents for patent registration in Mozambique
The necessary documents for patent registration in Mozambique include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s and inventor’s names, addresses, citizenships, etc.;
- A description of the invention;
- A signed and stamped power of attorney by the applicant(s);
- A copy of the amendments (if any);
- Priority documents (if any).
- Other required documents.
The procedure for patent registration in Mozambique
To obtain a patent in Mozambique, the applicant needs to file their patent application to the IP Office of Mozambique – Mozambican national patent office (IPI).
In addition to the traditional filing of patent applications, applicants who want to obtain patent protection in this country may also seek out other international methods such as the PCT, the ARIPO, etc.
With the traditional filing method, the application will undergo a formality examination to check if it complies with the regulations of the law.
However, it should be noted that the patent search in Mozambique might be a little bit hard compared to other countries as Espacenet, the most complete free patent database, is not available to this jurisdiction.
If there are no errors, the patent is granted to the applicant.
The patent in this country has a duration of 20 years from the date of filing. Annual renewal fees are payable in advance from the first anniversary of the filing date.
There is a 6 month grace period available upon payment of a late fine if the patentee misses the payment deadline. Failure to pay annuities when due, or within the 6-month period of grace, will result in the lapse of the patent.
Other registration methods
Filing through the ARIPO
Mozambique patents may be filed through the ARIPO union – an organization that facilitates the registration and administration of Intellectual Property rights for various African countries.
An applicant may file a single application designating the specific contracting states either directly at ARIPO or through a contracting state.
PCT
Mozambique is a signatory of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) – The Patent Cooperation Treaty. Therefore, by filing only one international patent application, applicants can simultaneously seek protection for an invention in other PCT member countries. A PCT National Phase entry provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect intellectual property in each of its contracting states.
You can see a list of Mozambique IP firms here.