OAPI member states are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros Islands, Congo Brazzaville, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.

OAPI follows the current Nice Classification of goods and services at any given time.

OAPI operates a multi class filing system wherein an application may cover more than one class of goods or services, additional fees payable after the first and each subsequent class.

No. When filing an application at OAPI, it is not possible to designate specific countries. Rather, a single application is filed which covers all member states at time of filing.

No, this is not possible. Upon joining OAPI, all member states waive their rights to national IP filings. Although each member state has a national liaison office, this liaison office does not examine applications nor grant rights.

The working languages of OAPI are English and French. OAPI official languages are English and French. Where a trademark is comprised of characters in neither of these languages, a transliteration and or translation must be filed at OAPI. All documents filed in support of applications must be in either English or French.

A trademark is valid for 10 years from the filing date; however, the trademark may be preserved indefinitely through successive renewals which may be done every 10 years.

✓ Details of applicant / owner (Name and full address). ✓ Classes of goods/services as well as corresponding list of class specification. ✓ Representation of trademark (Word mark or logo in MS Word / .doc format). ✓ Details of Priority and Priority documents (if claiming Priority). ✓ Simply signed original Power of Attorney (we prepare and provide you with this document upon receipt of instructions). ✓ Regulations of use for a collective mark, certification mark, or co-owned mark.

Yes. The applicant may appeal to the High Commission of Appeal within 60 days of the notification of the rejection decision.

For trademarks filed after 01/01/2022, interested parties have 3 months from publication of the application for registration in the Trademark journal, within which to file an opposition or claim of ownership action.

Any person wishing to avail himself of the priority of an earlier application must file his application for registration at OAPI within six months of the previous filing date. Within three months of filing the application, the Priority documents must be filed pat the Registry.

Yes, it is possible for a Trademark to be owned by several people. However, the regulations determining conditions of use must be submitted to the Registry.

Yes. Any initial application concerning several goods or services may be divided by the applicant or at his request into several applications, called divisional applications. The division of the initial application may only concern the list of products and services covered by the application. Divisional applications retain the filing date of the initial application and, where applicable, the benefit of the right of priority.