Power Of Attorney: Angolan Court Establishes New Deadlines

• Published date: 23 December 2021
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Patent, Trademark
• Law Firm: Inventa
• Author: Mr Miguel Bibe

One of the requirements in Angola for the registration of any IP right through a legal representative is a power of attorney on behalf of the applicant. In cases where the applicants are foreign persons or entities, this document is even mandatory, as they are required to be represented by a local attorney at law, according to article 67 of the Angolan Industrial Property Law (IP Law).

Additionally, for these applicants, it will be required that the power of attorney will be certified at an Angolan consulate or embassy.

However, taking into account that the process of the legalisation and also the time in transit to receive the original document in Angola can take a considerable period of time, there are situations in which it is not possible to wait for the conclusion of the legalisation process, either to guarantee the priority claim deadlines, formal deadlines, or simply for reasons of urgency to move forward to an immediate filing according to the applicant's business strategy.

Although the IP law is silent regarding the possibility of late filing the power of attorney, it is common practice at the Angolan Institute of Industrial Property (AIIP), but in the absence of regulation on this matter, the applicable deadline for late filing is uncertain, especially considering that the different departments of the AIIP apply different deadlines for the late filing of documents, including the power of attorney.

It is accepted that there is no formal deadline for the late filing of the power of attorney until formal examination by the office. Upon examination, in case this document is missing, the office notifies the applicant to submit it.

It is in the formal notifications from the office requesting the filing of the missing documents that the departments applies different deadlines.

For example, the patent department usually gives a period of 90 days to file the missing documents; the trademark department usually sets a period of 30 days to file them; and the department responsible for dealing with oppositions and other litigation processes requires the filing of the power of attorney within 15 or 30 days.

Case study

It is precisely the question of the number of days assigned to a foreign opposition applicant to submit the power of attorney, following a formal notification, that is the basis for a decision from the Angolan Court, published in the Angolan IP Bulletin No. 7 of 2021.

In this case, the office issued a notification requesting the filing of the...