Under the current version of the Bangui Agreement relating to
the creation of the African Intellectual Property Organization (in
French abbreviated as OAPI for Organisation Africaine de la
Propriété Intellectuelle), a trade mark is first
registered and only thereafter published for opposition. This means
that third parties are only made aware of the existence of a trade
mark once it has been registered by the OAPI administration and
published for opposition.
If a third party wants to contest the validity of an OAPI trade
mark registration, this can be done by filing an opposition against
the trade mark registration within the prescribed time. The
opposition procedure is handled in the first instance by the
Director General of the OAPI and takes approximately 18 months. In
case the decision of the Director General is appealed, the Higher
Appeal Commission of OAPI makes a final determination of the
matter. This takes at least another 18 months.
