OAPI accedes to the Singapore Treaty

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has issued a notification that the African Intellectual Property Organisation (OAPI) has acceded to the Singapore Treaty. The notification (which can be accessed here) states that the instrument of accession was deposited with WIPO on 13 November 2015 and as such the Treaty will enter into force in OAPI on 13 February 2016, with certain Articles being declared to be not applicable in OAPI.

According to WIPO’s website, the objective of the Singapore Treaty is to “create a modern and dynamic international framework for the harmonization of administrative trademark registration procedures”. The Singapore Treaty is based on the Trademark Law Treaty of 1994 (TLT), but has a wider scope of application and addresses more recent developments in the field of communication technologies.

If you have been following the saga emitted by OAPI’s accession to the Madrid Protocol (which we reported on here), you might also ask whether this accession is legally valid. We will keep an eye on developments in this regard and post an update should any backlash follow this accession as well.

For more infromation, please contact Adre Greeff