Trademark Registration Procedure in OAPI
Upon receipt of your instructions, we prepare and provide you with a POA (power of attorney) for execution, and in due course file the application at OAPI.
After filing, we provide you with a provisional filing receipt which is the copy of the filing request deposited at OAPI bearing the OAPI official date stamp on it.
Within three months from filing, OAPI issues the official filing receipt bearing the application date and number – we scan and send you a copy of this for your records.
OAPI proceeds with the examination of the application.
If there are no problems during the examination stage, OAPI will proceed with the registration of the trademark, issuance of the certificate, and publication in the OAPI Official bulletin.
Interested parties have 06 months from publication date to initiate opposition action against a registered trademark at OAPI.
A registration certificate is issued during a minimum of 15 months. The issuance will also depend on when required documents such as the POA are filed, and whether official actions issued by OAPI are attended to promptly.
Official Trademark Office in OAPI
The OAPI states are a union of French-speaking African countries. Occasionally, OAPI is mentioned as AIPO (African Intellectual Property Organization), not to be confused with ARIPO.
Member states are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Comoro Islands, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.
The Trademark Office applies the current version of the Nice Classification, you can find acceptable goods and services in this link.
Requirements
Fill out our simple online form in just 5 minutes and a Trademark Specialist will contact you within 24 hours in order to guide you through the process. Note, that if your trademark is applied both for goods (classes from 1 to 34) and services (classes from 35 to 45) it will have to be filed in 2 separate applications. At th e same time, one application in OAPI may contain more than one class of products or services respectively.
What is registrable as a trademark?
Registrable as a trademark is any visible sign capable of distinguishing the goods and services of any enterprise. The following trademark types are registrable: trademarks, service marks and collective marks.
What will be required to file your brand in OAPI?
- Type of the applicant: individual or a company.
- Complete name of the owner. Full address of the owner.
- Phone number - to contact you in case if any action is required.
- Mailing address - to forward you the certificate once the trademark is registered.
- List of goods/services.
- Class or classes.
- Trademark itself.
- Power of attorney (non-legalised).
Registration Duration
A trademark registration is valid for 10 years starting from the filing date. The registration is renewable for periods of 10 years. If the trademark has not been in use within 5 years from registration, it may be subject to cancellation at the appeal of any interested party. Use in one member state is sufficient to satisfy the use requirement for all member countries.
Extensive Search & Study
Available online, you can request a free trademark search online on our website or here:
Trademark Database contains registered and filed trademarks in OAPI. However, we recommend ordering a trademark study as such will allow you to check the probability of registration of your trademark in OAPI, calculated by an experienced attorney.
Trademark Application Fees
The official fee is approx. EUR 610.00 for up to three classes, EUR 125.00 for each additional class. For a coloured trademark an official fee of approx. EUR 75.00 is added.
The fees are 100% included in our prices.
Trademark Registration Fees
Our fees (6th of December, 2017):
- Trademark Search in one class: 159 USD
- Additional class: 159 USD
- Trademark Registration Request in one class: 1249 USD
- Additional class: 299 USD
Our fees include the official and legal fees.
Services
We offer the following services in OAPI:
- Trademark Search (wordmark only)
- Trademark Registration
- Trademark renewal
- Trademark oppositions
- Defenses in case of oppositions or objections/office actions in OAPI
- Trademark assignment
- Change of name/Change of Address
If you are interested in any of the above-mentioned services, please do not hesitate to contact us.