Owing to the particular, specialized nature of this subject, different institutions and sectors deal
with particular segments of intellectual property. This characteristic has historical origins and
reflects a world trend that still prevails. And indeed, respecting the traditional segregation
between industrial property and copyright, in Mozambique there are two institutions for dealing
with these areas: the Industrial Property Institute and the National Book and Disk Institute.
Emerging areas such as traditional knowledge have been the subject of work by the National
Health Institute and the National Commission on Sustainable Development; folklore has been
addressed by the ARPAC; while plant varieties, in turn, have been produced by private bodies
and the Mozambican Institute of Agronomic Research and the Faculty of Agronomy of Eduardo
Mondlane University.
The private sector and civil society, such as SOMAS and other artists’ associations, industrial
property agents, associations of practitioners of Traditional Medicine, etc. have also played a key
role in developing these areas. In this context, there is an urgent need to set up a mechanism to
link the various institutions and sectors with an interest in the area of intellectual property, to
develop a common vision on the policies, legislation and actions needed in order to disseminate,
safeguard and make strategic use of intellectual property for the benefit of Mozambique’s
economic, social, cultural, scientific and technological development.
With a view to developing a functional, efficient and effective mechanism for management and
coordination in relation to the intellectual property system, there is a pressing need to achieve the
following strategic goals:
6.7.1. Introduce inter-institutional mechanisms to coordinate and harmonize policies and
legislation on IP
Developing a common vision on the strategic use of intellectual property and how to protect it
may be done at two levels: among the public institutions, and between them and the private
sector.