referred to the protection of intellectual property and established some basic principles. The
Constitution of the Republic of 2004 recognized the right to property and the right to freedom of
scientific, technical, literary and artistic creation and protects the rights inherent in intellectual
property (Article 94).
In addition to these programmatic rules, the Mozambican government has acceded to a number
of regional and international organizations active in the sphere of intellectual property, in
particular the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the
African Regional Intellectual Property Organization.
Given this background, the legal system needed intellectual property to be regulated
domestically. This was the context for the approval, by Council of Ministers Decree No. 18/99 of
May 4, 1999, of the first Industrial Property Code, which constituted the first instrument in postindependence Mozambique for regulating the system for administering industrial property. The
Industrial Property Code was revised and today consists of Council of Ministers Decree No.
4/2006, of April 12, 2006.
To supplement domestic legislation, the government has ratified a series of regional and
international instruments in the sphere of industrial property, in particular:
•
The Harare Protocol of 1982, concerning the regional registration of patents, utility
models and industrial designs through Resolution No. 34/99 of November 16, 1999;
•
The Madrid Agreement of 1891 and its 1989 Protocol, on the international registration of
marks, through Resolution No. 20/97 of August 12, 1997;
•
The Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services
for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks of 1957, through Resolution No. 38/2001 of
June 12, 2001;
•
The Paris Convention of 1883, concerning the protection of industrial property, through
Resolution No. 21/97 of August 12, 1997;
•
The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) of June 19, 1970 and its implementing regulation
of January 1, 1993, concerning the international registration of patents and utility models,
through Resolution No. 35/99 of November 1999;