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GABON – OAPI

COUNTRY : GABONESE REPUBLIC

CAPITAL : LIBREVILLE

LANGUAGE : FRENCH

 

Trademark is managed and granted to all OAPI countries by Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle.

 

International Treaties to which Gabon – OAPI is signatory:

 

PROTECTION OF TRADEMARKS IN GABON:

  1. OAPI Office       –     Direct Filing with OAPI Trademark Office
  2. International Registration   –  Through Madrid System.

 

Therefore, to obtain protection in Gabon, there are two options from which the applicant can choose.

Please refer our  Treaties section on International protection under Madrid System and Community Trademark Registration.

 

Filing of Trademarks in Gabon – OAPI The African Intellectual Property Organisation known commonly by it’s French Acronym (OAPI) was established through the Bangui Agreement at the Republic of Central Africa and is head quartered at Yaounde, Cameroon.

OAPI came to be constituted through the Bangui Agreement and is a comity of 16 Former French Colonies which are also French speaking Countries – Cameroon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad, Togo, Equatorial Guinea.

The Bangui Agreement deals with the following inttelictual Property matters relating to member countries: Patents, Utility Models, Trademarks, Industrial Designs, Trade Names, Geographical Indications, Copyrights, Unfair Competition, Integrated Circuit Layouts and Plant Variety Rights

Member Nations of the OAPI have retained significant portions of the legal systems of the countries that colonised them, however, legal questions regarding infringement and IP matters requiring litigation are to be settled by domestic courts of each state.

Member nations recognise the provisions entrenched in the Bangui Agreement and its annexes as their national law.  Hence, OAPI allows applicants to receive Trademarks protection in all of the 16 jurisdictions with a single application and registration.  Therefore, Registration in individual member nations, is no longer possible.

 

INDIVIDUAL MARKS,  COLLECTIVE MARKS, WELL-KNOWN MARKS UNDER OAPI:

Individual marks:

Individual marks differentiate products or services offered by one undertaking from those of other companies or competitors.

Collective marks:

Collective marks have to comply with the conditions of use laid down by regulation approved by the competent authority. Its legal regime is significantly different from that of the individual mark. Persons entitled to benefit from the collective marks are, unions, groups of producers, industrial, artisans or merchants.

Well-known marks:

When a brand, be it individual or collective, acquires a certain reputation it will becomes well known and enjoys a special regime of protection.

The mark may be considered well known, once it is known to a large fraction of the public. So it is not that the mark is known to a public specialized in a particular trade or industry, for example in a professional circle. Most often it will be required that the mark is known of a large part of the public, i.e. the whole of the population.  Moreover, the reputation must be found in the country where protection is sought. No doubt, is it not necessary that the mark is used in the country, but it is necessary that it be known.

Unlike ordinary marks, the well-known mark is not required to be a repository for legal protection. The assessment of the reputation is the sovereign power of the judge.

THE JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS IN OAPI:

Following are the judicial proceedings that take place at OAPI:

  • The action for revocation
  • The strike action
  • The action for unfair competition

  • Kinds of Trademarks registrable in GABON – OAPI

    • Following indications may be used as Trademarks in OAPI:

      • Surnames & Pseudonyms
      • Arbitrary or fanciful names
      • Characteristic form of product or its packaging
      • Labels
      • Envelopes
      • Emblems
      • Fingerprints
      • Stamps
      • Vignettes
      • Combinations and provisions of colors
      • Designs & Features
      • Letters & Numbers
      • Currencies
  • Requisites for a Trademark to be registrable in GABON – OAPI

    • CONDITIONS FOR REGISTRATION OF TRADEMARKS UNDER OAPI:

      To be protected, the mark must fulfil the following conditions:

      1. It must be distinctive in the sense that it must not describe or be the required designation of the product covered.
      2. It must be available in the sense that it must not have undergone a previous appropriation. It must not already have been the subject of a record for the benefit of another person; in the same class of products for the products or services or similar services, in compliance with the principle of specialty;
      3. It must not be contrary to order public or morality;
      4. Mark must not be deceiving to the public about its geographical origin, nature or characteristics of the products or services;
      5. It must not be similar to the coat of arms or official hallmarks, or reproduce the colours of the flags of countries or the abbreviation of Red Cross and Red Crescent to a cross.
      6. Furthermore, the mark to be protected must be subject to an application for registration with OAPI.
  • Kinds of Trademarks not registrable in GABON – OAPI

    • Applicants should bear in mind that the following will not be registrable as Trademarks in Gabon – OAPI:

      1. Marks not distinctive.
      2. Marks that are mere descriptions of the goods, products that they represent or familiar drawings and ordinary pictures of goods and products.
      3. Marks and Signs contravening morality, public order.
      4. Marks which are identical or similar to religious symbols.
      5. Marks misleading the public as to the origin or the source of the products or services or their characteristics.
      6. Marks that are considered imitations / copies/ translations of famous and well known marks.
      7. Marks that are similar / identical to registered and pending marks.
      8. Marks identical /similar to or containing elements resembling maps, emblems, flags, signs, seals and official insignia of national and international organisations.

      TrademarkCopia through its associate Law Firms and Lawyers in Gabon – OAPI is at hand to help you with trademark registration

  • Trademark Search in GABON – OAPI

    • It is highly advisable to conduct a search of the proposed mark to ensure that a similar mark has not been applied for by other contenders and is not pending registration or is already registered.

      Our Attorneys are at hand to assist you with searches and provide opinions about registrarbility of the proposed / coined trademark in OAPI.

  • Trademark Filing in GABON – OAPI

    • Filing is done with the Trademark office of OAPI.Applicant has to furnish the following documentation for filing:

      1. Name of the applicant
      2. Logo (if any) in B/W or Colour
      3. Address along with nationality of the Applicant
      4. Classes in which Registration is sought.v  Power of Attorney (POA)
      5. Details regarding Goods and Services for which registration sought (Goods and Services classified as per NICE classification)

      TRADEMARKCOPIA.COM  will assist you with the following:

      • Filings
      • Infringement & Opposition Actions
      • Renewals
      • License and Assignment procedures
      • Trademark Watch Services
  • Trademark Examination in GABON – OAPI

    • Upon filing, the application is examined for compliance and any deficiensy found are intimated to the applicant.Applicant has to rectify these deficiencies within stipulated time period else, application is liable to be rejected.

  • Trademark Publication & Opposition in GABON – OAPI

    • Upon application found to be compliment with all the requisites it is published in the official trademarks bulletin.Interested third parties may oppose registration of the application within six months from the date of publication.

      TrademarkCopia through its experienced Trademark Lawyers and Trademark Attorneys in Gabon – OAPI can comprehensively assist you with trademark opposition and prosecution.

  • Trademark Registration in GABON – OAPI

    • In the event the application encounters opposition by third parties it is taken up for adjudication accordingly.If the application does not counter any opposition, it proceeds for registration and the certificate of registration is issued.

       

      Trademark registration in OAPI is valid for 10 years from the date of filing after which it can be frequently renewed for another 10 years.

  • Trademark Usage in GABON – OAPI

    • Non usage of the registered trademark continuously for a period of five years would lead to cancellation of the registered trademark

  • Trademark Cost of Registration in GABON – OAPI

    • Please write mail for the cost of registration of trademark in Gabon OAPI to the mail address given below:

      contact@trademarkcopia.com

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