In this, the second in Afro-IP's series of visits to the official IP websites of African states, online sleuth Kingsley Egbuonu takes a trip to Angola and comes back disappointed. He writes:
Office(s) for copyright and related rights
• The Ministry of Culture is responsible for the regulation and administration of copyright and related rights.
• The competent administrative offices under the Ministry are the National Institute for Cultural Industries (INIC) and the National Directorate of Entertainment and Copyright.
• Neither office apparently has or maintains any website.
Office(s) for industrial property rights
• The Ministry of Industry (MIND) regulates and administers intellectual property rights - trade marks, patents, and designs.
• MIND has a website (www.mind.gov.ao) in the Portuguese language, dated 2006.
• The competent administrative office under MIND is the Angolan Institute of Industrial Property (IAPI).
• IAPI does not have a website dedicated to it, but information on filing and other procedures can be found on MIND’s website under questions and answers (when translated using Google translate).
Ultimately, it is safe to say that Angola does not currently have a website for its intellectual property office".
You can contact Kingsley on Twitter at @IPinAfrica
