3. OVERVIEW OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN MOZAMBIQUE
3.1. Brief historical summary
The legal and institutional framework of the IP system was established in Mozambique during
the colonial era. As a result, the system for administering it was centralized in what was then the
capital, so the whole process of granting IP rights and protection was handled in Portugal, in
compliance with the legislation in force at that time. 1
Then, as now, IP was dealt with in two main categories, matching the two main traditional areas:
intellectual property in the strict sense, better known as copyright and related rights, and
industrial property.
With the independence of Mozambique in 1975, the presuppositions on which the system had
been based ceased to exist, and the legislation then in force, which had become inapplicable, fell
into disuse. This gave rise to a lengthy period in which there was no mechanism or system in
Mozambique for protecting IP.
It should be noted, however, that the economic system adopted by the Constitution of the
Popular Republic of 1975, which was centrally based, did not promote private initiative, as the
State had a three-fold role: as planner, regulator and producer. At that period, therefore, the lack
of an IP system was irrelevant.
In 1986 the government introduced the Economic Recovery Program (Programa de Reabilitação
Económica, PRE) which, among other strategies, established the need for external funding via the
World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Cooperation with these
institutions was to have a significant influence on the dynamics of the Mozambican economy, for
example by starting the privatization of enterprises and other forms of State participation in the
economy, and legal reform including reform of the Constitution itself.
1
See Decree No. 30.679 of 24 August 1940 approving the Industrial Property Code which was extended to what
were then overseas provinces, including Mozambique, through Order No. 17043 of 20 February 1959 and the Code
on Copyright and Related Rights, approved by Decree No. 46.980 of 27 April 1966, also extended to the former
overseas provinces, including Mozambique, by means of Order No. 679/71 of 7 December 1971.