OAPI general info

The Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle or OAPI (English: African Intellectual Property Organization) is an intellectual property organisation, headquartered in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The organisation was created by the Bangui Agreement of March 2, 1977. The Bangui Agreement was subsequently amended in 1999. The protection of the IP types registered in OAPI is automatically valid in the current 17 member states: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo. OAPI IP registrations become automatically valid in the territory of all its member states. When joining OAPI, member states waive the possibility of filing the application via national procedure. Thus, it is not possible to designate an individual country for separate protection.

OAPI IP Legal Base

The Bangui Agreement

International organizations/agreements

Berne Convention (all countries are members)
Brussels Convention on Programme-carrying Signals (only Togo a member)
Budapest Treaty (OAPI is the member)
Cooperation Agreement between OAPI and EAPO
Hague Agreement on Designs (OAPI is a member) (9 countries are members; Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Togo are not yet members)
Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin (only Burkina Faso, Congo, Gabon and Togo are members)
Locarno Agreement on Classification of Designs (only Guinea is a member)
Nairobi Treaty on Olympic Symbol (only Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal and Togo are members)
Nice Agreement on Classification of Marks (only Benin and Guinea are members)
Paris Convention (all countries are members)
Patent Cooperation Treaty (all countries are members)
Phonograms Convention (only Burkina Faso and Togo are members)
Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks
Rome Convention (only Burkina Faso, Congo, Niger and Togo are members)
Singapore Treaty (only Mali is a member)
Strasbourg Agreement on Patent Classification (only Guinea is a member)
Trade Mark Law Treaty (only Burkina Faso and Guinea are members)
Vienna Agreement on Figurative Elements of Marks  (only Guinea is a member)
WIPO Convention (all countries are members)
WIPO Copyright Treaty (only Benin, Burkina, Faso, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Senegal and Togo are members)
WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (only Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Senegal and Togo are members)
WTO/TRIPS (all countries are members except Equatorial Guinea)   

Patent Office Contact Details

Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle
158, place de la préfecture
B.P. 887 Yaoundé, Cameroon
Phone: (237) 222 20 57 00
Fax: (237) 222 20 57 27
Email: oapi@oapi.int
www.oapi.int

IP registration costs

Fees associated with registration of IP rights in OAPI are available in the fee calculator.