Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle

1.  Benin (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: March 19, 1983[1])
2.  Burkina Faso (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: June 1, 1983[1])
3.  Cameroon (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: February 8, 1982[1])
4.  Central African Republic (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: February 8, 1982[1])
5.  Chad (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: November 5, 1988[1])
6.  Congo (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: February 8, 1982[1])
7.  Ivory Coast (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: February 8, 1982[1])
8.  Equatorial Guinea (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: November 23, 2000[1])
9.  Gabon (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: February 8, 1982[1])
10.  Guinea (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: January 18, 1990[1])
11.  Guinea-Bissau (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: July 8, 1998[1])
12.  Mali (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: September 30, 1984[1])
13.  Mauritania (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: February 8, 1982[1])
14.  Niger (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: February 8, 1982[1])
15.  Senegal (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: February 8, 1982[1])
16.  Togo (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: February 8, 1982[1])
17.  Comoros (Accession to the 1977 Bangui Agreement: May 25, 2013[2])

The Bangui agreement gave the following responsibilities to OAPI:

1. To implement and apply common administrative procedure deriving from a uniform system for the protection of industrial property as well as the provision of international agreements in this field to which the Member States of the organisation have acceded and providing services related to industrial property.[3]
2. To contribute to the promotion of the protection of literary and artistic property as an expression of cultural and social values.[4]
3. To encourage the creation of associations of national authors in those Member States where such bodies do not exist.[4]
4. To centralise, coordinate and disseminate information of all kinds relating to the protection of literary and artistic property and communicating that information to any state party to the agreement that request for it.[4]
5. To promote the economic development of Member States notably by means of effective protection of Intellectual Property and related rights.[4]
6. To provide intellectual property training.[4]
7. To undertake any other assignment connected with its objective that might be entrusted to it by the Member States.[4]

The organisation has three organs: The Administrative Council; the High Commission of Appeal; and the Directorate General.[5]

The organisation is currently headed by Dr Denis Loukou Bohoussou (from Côte d'Ivoire) following his installation ceremony on 31st July 2017 at OAPI’s headquarters in Yaounde, Cameroon. Dr Bohoussou will serve a five-year term and replaces Dr Paulin Edou Edou (of Gabon) who was OAPI’s Director-General for ten years (2007-2017).

Mr Jean-Baptiste Wago (from the Central African Republic) is the Deputy Director-General, and Mr Touré Serigne Momar Nasir (from Senegal) is the Financial Controller.[10]

• Berne Convention (all countries are members).
• Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite (only Togo a member).
• Budapest Treaty (OAPI is the member).
• Cooperation Agreement between OAPI and EAPO.[12]
• Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial 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[13] (only Burkina Faso, Congo, Gabon and Togo are members).
• Locarno Agreement on Classification of Designs[14] (only Guinea is a member).
• Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks.
• Nairobi Treaty on Olympic Symbol (only Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal and Togo are members).
• Nice Agreement on Classification of Marks.
• Paris Convention (all countries are members).
• Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)(all countries are members).
• Phonograms Convention.
• Rome Convention (only Burkina Faso, Congo, Niger and Togo are members).
• 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).

The Bangui Agreement covers patents,[15] utility models,[16] trademarks,[17] industrial design right,[18] trade names,[19] geographical indications,[20] copyright,[21] unfair competition,[22] integrated circuit layouts[23] and plant variety rights.[24]

• African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO)
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
• Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (Paris Convention)

Logo OAPI

• (in French) Official website
• OAPI at WIPO
• Bangui Agreement