OAPI Joins Geneva Act of WIPO’s Lisbon Agreement
On 15 December 2022, the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) acceded to The Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications taking the total number of countries covered by the Lisbon system to 70. Furthermore, all 17 member states of OAPI are covered by the system: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
OAPI member states will now be able to protect their geographical indications such as “Ananas Pain de Sucre du Plateau d’Allada” (Benin), “Chapeau de Saponé” (Burkina Faso), “Penja Pepper” (Cameroon), “Café Ziama Macenta” (Guinea), “Kilichi du Niger” (Niger) or “Échalote de Bandiagara” (Mali). Users of geographical indications can protect their unique products in up to 70 counties through a single procedure at WIPO.
Source: OAPI Joins Geneva Act of WIPO’s Lisbon Agreement
Togo registers kovié rice as its first Protected Geographical Indication
On 3 April 2025, kovié rice, hailing from the Kovié region, became Togo’s first Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). This PGI designation, granted by OAPI, will serve to ensure the quality of ...
May 14 2025
OAPI Participates in the Sixth Session of the Working Group on the Lisbon System
Strengthening the international legal framework for these safeguards was the main goal of the sixth session of the Working Group on the Legal Development of the Lisbon System, which was held at the Wo...
April 16 2025
OAPI and INTA Collaborate on Trade Mark Classification System
About thirty people participated in an expert-led workshop, which was conducted both in-person and virtually, to discuss the nuances and complexity of the Nice and OAPI trademark classification syste...
April 15 2025