Amendments to OAPI IP legislation and new European cooperation
OAPI
As of January 1, 2025, the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI) implemented amendments to the legislation underpinning the regional organization, namely the Bangui Agreement relating to Patents and Utility Models.
Established in 1962, the OAPI is a regional IP Office which consists of 17 Member States, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros (excluding Mayotte), Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad and Togo.
The OAPI operates under the Bangui Agreement, facilitating a unified and streamlined system for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights across its Member States. The regional Office plays a vital part in fostering innovation, creativity, and economic development across the region, providing a centralized system for IP administration. Through the system, applicants can file a single patent or utility model application, which, when granted, has legal effect in all 17 of the OAPI Member States.
Among the most significant amendments to the Bangui Agreement, patent and utility model applications filed via the OAPI will now be subject to substantive examination, further ensuring the quality of IP rights that are deemed to be patentable in the region. In instances where the application is filed via the PCT, upon entering the OAPI regional phase, examiners are expected to rely on the PCT International Search Report and International Preliminary Examination Report when conducting the substantive examination.
Patent and utility model opposition procedures are now also facilitated by the OAPI, with the Office publishing applications for opposition observations. As such, opposing parties may file an opposition within a period of three months from the date of application publication. All applications not filed by way of the PCT will be published within 18 months of the filing or priority date.
Another substantial change to the OAPI procedures is that it is now possible to file divisional applications at any point prior to the grant of the right, with the previous legislation only allowing for divisional applications to be filed up to the expiry of the 30-month PCT regional phase deadline. This also applies in instances whereby the filing of a divisional application is in response to a substantive examination Office Action.
Another alteration is that, owing to the World Trade Organization for TRIPS extending the exclusion of pharmaceutical products for least developed countries (LDCs) from obtaining patent protection until at least January 1, 2033, the Bangui Agreement provisions in relation to pharmaceutical products will not apply to OAPI Member States with LDC status.
The amendments to the Bangui Agreement also implemented new official fees in relation to patent and utility models filed with the OAPI, applicable to applications submitted on or after January 1, 2025.
As per the amended fee schedule, excess claims in patent and utility models applications will be subject to increased costs, as will the annuity fees. Moreover, any annuity fees that are due within 2025 but were paid in 2024 will be subject to the new 2025 annuity fees. The OAPI is set to contact rights holders to confirm the amount owed to cover any shortfalls in these instances.
EPO & Portugal
March 1, 2025 saw the implementation of a cooperative working agreement in relation to IP searches between the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Portuguese Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), following its conclusion on December 10, 2024.
The working agreement allows the INPI to request for the EPO to carry out searches related to Portuguese national applications, with the EPO providing a written opinion on the patentability of an invention.
The Agreement not only improves accessibility to the patent system for Portuguese applicants, but is also accompanied by a further administrative agreement facilitating support for micro-entities, universities and research centres. In turn, this will provide vital support for the country's SMEs, educational institutions, and individual inventors by way of an 80% reduction in search fees for up to 400 requests.
The reports provided by the EPO are set to provide applicants with the most accurate and thorough search results possible, allowing them to better assess their invention's prospects for protection at a European and international level.
Portugal comprises the 18th EPO Member State to sign a working agreement in relation to patent searches with the regional Office. The Agreement is a result of the European Patent Office's Strategic Plan 2028, which aims to enhance collaboration in order to increase the quality and accessibility of the patent system on an international level.