Trademarks have dominated Cape Verde's IP field at the
expense of other rights such as patents and industrial designs for
many years. But this scenario could be about to change, says Diana
Pereira of Inventa International.
As is the case in many countries, trademarks have taken the
biggest IP share in Cape Verde ever since the creation of the
region's IP rights legislation. This has been to the detriment
of other rights such as patents, utility models and industrial
designs, which are all poorly represented in the jurisdiction.
According to data provided by the Cape Verdean IP office, the
Institute for Quality Management and Intellectual Property (IGQPI),
4,327 trademark applications were filed between 2005 and 2020. Only
21 applications were for patents and 17 for industrial design
applications, with a dearth of applications for utility models. In
percentage terms, this breaks down to 99.12% for trademarks,
against 0.88% for patents and industrial designs.
