Geographical Indication (GI) options for Ethiopian Coffee and Ghanaian Cocoa

Innovation & Intellectual Property
the degree to which the biofuel technologies being deployed in (and/or being
planned for) Mozambique are patent-restricted. Among the reasons for our desire
to probe this question was the government of Mozambique’s emphasis, articulated
in the NPSB of 2009, on development of localised technologies and small-scale
rural enterprises via biofuels production, an emphasis which would be undermined
if small-scale actors are not able to gain access to the relevant technologies.
(See Chapter 12 of this volume for research into patenting and technology
transfer in Egypt’s biofuel sector; and see Chapter 10 of this volume for discussion
of deficiencies on the African continent in national patent examination and
record-keeping.)
2. The research
The central research question for the study was: To what extent is, or will, IP play
a role in access, use and development of biofuel technologies in Mozambique? This
qualitative study, which we undertook between September 2011 and June 2012,
consisted of:
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a review of the policy and legal framework relevant to biofuel exploitation,
including the aforementioned NPSB of 2009;
a patent “landscaping” exercise to determine the level of biofuel technology
patenting in Mozambique; and
visits in October 2011 to two provinces particularly active in the area of
biofuels production from jatropha oil: Manica Province and Nampula
Province.
The first research method, the policy and legal review, was made challenging
by intensive activity towards development of the legal framework for biofuels
exploitation during the time of the study, and continuing through to the
time of finalisation of this report in April 2013. We were, however, fortunate in
having access to a number of drafts of the policy instruments being developed.
The second method, the patent landscaping exercise, looked at biofuel patents
granted in Mozambique between 1999 to 2012, with the data collected from the
Mozambican Industrial Property Institute (IPI) and from the African Regional
Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO, of which Mozambique is a Member
State). The data were gathered through direct contacts we have within the IPI and
ARIPO. 2 The third method, the site visits to Manica and Nampula, focused on the
2 One of the authors of this study, Fernando dos Santos, served until the end of 2012 as Director-
General of the IPI. In early 2013, he began a four-year term as Director-General of ARIPO.
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