The Saponé Hat, dating back to the 13th century, is produced by Burkino Faso’s Saponé community and is integrated as part of their cultural and historical identity. On 12 April 2022, the Saponé community received certification for the hat as a protected...
Certain class headings under the International Classification of the NICE Agreement will no longer be accepted by OAPI[1] On 28 February 2022, the Director General of the Organisation Africaine de la Propriete Intellectuelle (“OAPI”) issued a Circular Notice informing...
OAPI has recently uploaded, onto its LinkedIn page, five (5) videos of the Director General (“DG”), Mr Denis Bohoussou, addressing the media and agents on a number of issues[1]. Most importantly the Director General stated that all registration certificates which were...
Trade marks On 28 February 2022, the OAPI IP Office issued a notice informing that the Registry requires trade mark specifications of goods and services to contain clear and precise descriptions. As a general rule, trade mark applicants are discouraged from using the...
On 28 October 2021, ARIPO (The African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation), OAPI (African Intellectual Property Organisation) and WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organisation) held a meeting (virtually) to relaunch the Nairobi Strategic Plan on the...
From 15 November 2021 – 26 November 2021, OAPI, in conjunction with the French Development Agency and the Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development, is presenting the Second Edition of the African Training on Geographical...
On 12 October 2021[1], the regional conference on intellectual property was opened in Libreville. The purpose of this conference is to discuss the challenges and unique perspectives relating to trade in Africa and in the African Continental Free Trade Area. During...
On 2 January 2022, Annexes III, IV and V of the revised Bangui Agreement entered into force, introducing significant changes to the trade mark registration process in OAPI, and changes affecting the registration of trade names, and industrial designs. No changes have...
The OAPI IP Office recently published a notice informing of the launch of a pilot project to test a new online filing system that is earmarked to go live in 2021. This system would allow for the online filing of applications to register trade marks and also...
While the revised Bangui Agreement is yet to come into force, pending the ratification by the OAPI member states, OAPI has advised that certain annexes to the revised Agreement will come into force with effect from 14 November 2020. These Annexes are, Annex VI on...
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