Intellectual property law in Cape Verde: current state and the future

Intellectual property law in Cabo Verde has just completed its biggest reform in nearly two decades. A new Industrial Property Code (Decreto-Legislativo No. 2/2025 of 2 December) now governs patents, trademarks, designs and the other registered rights, replacing the code of 2007, while copyright remains governed by the 2009 law as amended in 2017. This page sets out the verified current state of the law and the changes the new Code itself announces for the future. It stays within what the official sources say; it does not speculate.

The current state

Industrial property. The Industrial Property Code was approved by Decreto-Legislativo No. 2/2025 of 2 December (Official Gazette No. 118, 1st Supplement, Series I), approved in Council of Ministers on 14 September 2025 under the legislative authorisation of Law No. 59/X/2025 of 5 August. It repeals the previous Code approved by Decreto-Legislativo No. 4/2007 of 20 August and entered into force six months after publication (from 2 June 2026), applying to pending applications and to rights already granted. The Code covers patents (20 years), utility models (6 years, extendable up to a maximum of 10), semiconductor topographies (10 years), plant varieties (25 years, 30 for vines and trees), registered designs (5 years, renewable up to 25; unregistered designs protected for 3 years after disclosure), trademarks (10 years, indefinitely renewable, with non-traditional marks admitted), establishment names and insignia and logotypes (10 years), awards (recompensas), appellations of origin and geographical indications (unlimited), traditional knowledge (no time limit) and trade secrets.

Copyright and related rights. Authors’ rights are governed by the Decreto-Legislativo No. 1/2009 of 27 April (the legal framework protecting literary, artistic and scientific works and the rights of authors, performers, phonogram and videogram producers and broadcasting organisations), first amended by Decreto-Legislativo No. 2/2017 of 16 November, whose preamble expressly aligns definitions and digital uses with the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT), the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances and the Marrakesh Treaty.

Who administers it. The Instituto de Gestão da Qualidade e da Propriedade Intelectual (IGQPI) (a public body of the indirect State administration) manages the National Intellectual Property Protection System, processes trademark registrations (national, international via the Madrid Protocol through WIPO’s eMadrid services, and regional through ARIPO) and publishes the Industrial Property Bulletin, where applications are advertised.

The international framework. The preamble of the new Code records that Cabo Verde has joined the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the WTO and its TRIPS Agreement, ARIPO (Lusaka Agreement), the Paris Convention, the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the Harare Protocol, the Arusha Protocol (plant varieties), the Madrid Protocol, the Banjul Protocol (marks), the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement (appellations of origin and geographical indications) and the Swakopmund Protocol (traditional knowledge), each by parliamentary resolution of 2022 cited in the Code.

The future, as the sources state it

The changes ahead are the ones the new Code itself sets out:

• Digital administration. The Code provides for acts to be practiced preferably through the online services of the responsible office and describes online filing of applications as a simplification measure, with intensive use of electronic communications between citizens, companies and the administration.
• New subject matter. Plant varieties and traditional knowledge are protected for the first time; trade secrets (know-how and confidential business information) receive reinforced protection; unregistered designs gain a 3-year protection against copying.
• Modern trademark rules. The graphic-representation requirement is replaced by any representation that clearly and precisely identifies the sign, non-traditional marks are expressly admitted and the scope of registered trademarks is widened.
• Stronger enforcement. The Code adds a regime of sanctions and strengthens the repression of unfair competition, alongside the criminal and misdemeanour offences of its Title III.
• Institutional capacity. The Code’s preamble states that the organism responsible for industrial property must have the human, technical and financial means adequate to its tasks, a declared condition for the reform to deliver.

What happens after entry into force (implementing regulation, fees in practice, and the day-to-day operation of the online services) must be confirmed with the IGQPI and the Official Gazette as it unfolds; those operational details are not yet stated in the sources checked for this page.

Where to confirm the current law

• the Official Electronic Gazette (boe.incv.cv), where the 2025 Code and the copyright amendments are published;
• the IGQPI website, with trademark application requirements, forms, the registration flow and the Industrial Property Bulletin collection;
• WIPO and ARIPO for the international and regional registration routes.

When to speak with a lawyer

Legal advice is worthwhile when filing patent or trademark applications, resolving conflicts between earlier and later rights, licensing or transferring technology, and responding to counterfeiting. The directory lists business and commercial law lawyers.

This page is general information, not legal advice.