Somaliland does not have any laws specifically dealing with the
protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).
However, Article 16 (2) of the Somaliland Constitution provides
that "the law shall determine the rights to authoring,
creating and inventing" and thus imposes on the Government of
Somaliland an obligation to implement laws dealing with the
protection and enforcement of IPRs.
Since no laws have been implemented yet, Article 130 (5) of the
Somaliland Constitution is instructive as it recognises the
application of the pre-1991 Somali laws until the promulgation of
new laws in Somaliland, provided as the laws are not in conflict
with Sharia Law, individual rights and fundamental freedoms. That
said, pre-1991 Somali laws dealing with registration and
enforcement of trade marks cannot be enforced since Somaliland
needs to set up systems and offices for the registrations to be
effected.
