Protecting your property rights

Purchasing land and intellectual property

Protecting your property rights

If you can’t find your ideal property, you could always construct it yourself on a plot of land that you purchase. There are, of course, regulations if you decide to do this. Aside from concrete buildings, you may also need advice on registering intellectual property.

Purchasing land

All land officially belongs to the State, passed by the Law on Land and Urban Planning in 2004. But, most urban and some non-urban land can be privately owned through long-term leases that can be renewed from the Angolan government. If you buy or register land over 10,000 hectares, you will need approval from the Council of Ministers.

It takes about 6-11 months to register property and fees for registering average 3.2% of property value. You will need to wait five years after you have purchased the land if you want to sell it afterwards. There are government regulations for building on land, which you will need to check before construction.

Intellectual property rights

The protection of intellectual property in Angola is very basic. On the World Economic Forum’s survey of Intellectual Property, Angola is placed as one of the worst countries in the world. Out of 1-7, (1 being the worst and 7 the best) Angola scored 2.6, behind South Africa and Brazil. Angola is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the National Assembly has adopted the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Intellectual Property. This means that there is an international intellectual property classification of patents, products and services for patents and trademark registration.

The fee for each intellectual property request varies on the type you need. To register property rights for trademark, patents and designs, you should consult the The Ministry of Industry. For the regulation of authorship, and literary and artistic rights, you should register with The Ministry of Culture.

Further reading

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