On December 2, 2025, Legislative Decree No. 2/2025 was published, approving the New Industrial Property Code of Cape Verde. This decree will enter into force on June 2, 2026, six months after its publication, revoking the previous Industrial Property Code, approved by Legislative Decree No. 4/2007 of August 20.
The New Industrial Property Code aims to align Cape Verde’s legal framework with the main international conventions to which the country has adhered, particularly as a result of its adherence to the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2022, as well as the following instruments:
- Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property;
- Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT);
- Harare Protocol on Patents, Utility Models and Industrial Designs;
- Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants;
- Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks;
- Banjul Protocol on Marks;
- Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications;
- Swakopmund Protocol on the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Expressions of Folklore.
Accordingly, the following changes to the current legal framework should be highlighted:
- Dematerialization and electronic procedure: the entire process of registering industrial property rights, as well as notifications, communications, and other acts provided for in the New Code, can now be carried out electronically, promoting simplification and swiftness of processes.
- Protection of unregistered designs or models: for the first time, protection is granted to unregistered designs or models, which will benefit from protection against copying for a period of three years from the date of their disclosure in the Cape Verde territory.
- Protection of Varieties of Plants: the New Code also establishes, for the first time, a regime for the protection of varieties of plants, granting their holders rights until the end of the twenty-fifth calendar year or, in the case of vine varieties and tree species, until the thirtieth calendar year following the year of their grant.
- Trade secrets regime: an autonomous regime for the protection of trade secrets is introduced, with a clear definition of their concept, delimitation of lawful and unlawful acts, as well as mechanisms for preserving the confidentiality of trade secrets in judicial proceedings. This aspect will benefit a significant number of companies across various sectors of activity.
- Protection of traditional knowledge: the New Code also provides for autonomous protection of traditional knowledge, which is not subject to any time limit and allows for accumulation with other protection regimes. The use of traditional knowledge to obtain any intellectual or industrial property right will now require the prior consent of local and traditional communities holding such knowledge and must be disclosed at the moment of filing and made accessible to the public when an industrial property right is granted.
The New Industrial Property Code thus represents a significant step forward for the effective protection of industrial property rights in Cape Verde, promoting the safeguarding of the interests of economic agents who wish to benefit from them.
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