About the OAPI
The Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI) is a single, centralized system for registering intellectual property across 16 French-speaking African countries. It was created under the Bangui Agreement, signed on March 2, 1977.
The organization's purpose is to let its member states work together, pool resources, and share ideas so they can meet their economic and social development needs while encouraging literary and artistic expression. OAPI also helps members set up administrative approaches for protecting property rights, including copyrights, trademarks, and patents.
Member countries covered for trademarks
A trademark filed through the OAPI treaty is protected in these countries:
- Benin
- Burkina Faso
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Republic of the Congo
- Equatorial Guinea
- Gabon
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Ivory Coast
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Niger
- Senegal
- Togo