African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI)Bangui Agreement Relating to the Creation of an African Intellectual Property Organization, Constituting a Revision of the Agreement Relating to the Creation of an African and Malagasy Office of Industrial Property (Bangui (Central African Republic), March 2, 1977).
Adopted on March 2, 1977 at Bangui
Entry into Force on February 8, 1982
Revised on February 24, 1999 at Bangui
Entry into Force on February 28, 2002
African intellectual property agreement. African Intellectual Property Organization Agreement. Agreement relating to the creation of an African Intellectual Property Organization. Created by the Agreement of Bangui of 2 Mar 1977. The original Bangui agreement was replaced by a revised Convention of Bangui 24 February 1999, conforming to the TRIPS± requirement of the World Trade Organization. The annexes to the revised Bangui Agreement contain uniform laws governing all aspects of intellectual property in the African Member States, these should serve as new national laws with implementation required by membership in the African Intellectual Property Organization. Annex I (patents), Annex II (utility models), Annex III (trade marks and service marks), Annex IV (industrial designs), Annex V (trade names), Annex VI (indications of geographical origin), Annex VII (literary and artistic property), Annex VIII (protection against unfair competition), Annex IX (layout designs (topographies) of integrated circuits), Annex X (plant variety protection). The Member States also accede to the Berne copyright convention± (1971 revision); Budapest microorganisms treaty;± Paris industrial property convention± (Stockholm revision); Patent cooperation treaty;± Phonogram Convention± (Rome), Universal copyright convention;± Vienna union;± WIPO convention.± French and English versions of the revised Bangui Agreement can most easily be found on the Organization’s WIPO website at http://www.oapi.wipo.net/. English text on the website of the African Intellectual Property Organization at http://www.oapi.wipo.net/doc/en/bangui_agreement.pdf. Official French text at http://www.droit-afrique.com/.‡