1. In Africa, there are two regional bodies in which to file patent and trade mark applications, namely OAPI (oapi.int) and ARIPO (www.aripo.org). South Africa and Nigeria, who each has its own patent office, are not party to either of the regional organisations.  We file patent and trade mark applications in OAPI and ARIPO through a network of dedicated agents.

2. The OAPI (Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle, or in English: African Intellectual Property Organization) is an intellectual property organization, headquartered in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

3. OAPI has the following 17 member states, which are mostly French-speaking countries:

Benin	Burkina Faso
Cameroon	Central African Republic
Chad	Congo
Ivory Coast	Equatorial Guinea
Gabon	Guinea
Guinea-Bissau	Mali
Mauritania	Niger
Senegal	Togo
Comoros

4. All member states are automatically covered in an OAPI patent application – It is not possible to select only some member states. After grant, an OAPI patent is automatically effective in each member state.

5. A single renewal fee is paid for all OAPI member states.

6. There is no post-grant validation procedure.

7. The following minimum requirements must be met to secure a valid filing date in respect of an OAPI national phase patent application out of a PCT application:

• • Specification, claims and abstract in English (MS Word format)
  • Drawings
  • International Publication number
  • International Patent Classification

8. The following additional documents are required to complete the filing requirements: