Administrative litigation
This is the opposition procedure and the claim of ownership:
These procedures take place before the director general of the OAPI and based on the principle of the contradictory. The decision rendered by the Director General concerning an opposition or a claim of ownership is likely to appeal before the Higher Commission for the appeal of the OAPI, a body composed of magistrates nationals of the member states of the OAPI.
The protection of a brand through its registration concerns a determined sign for specific products or services which are indicated at the time of the brand's deposit This is the specialty principle.
To apply for an opposition to the Managing Director, the person concerned is based on two hypotheses:
The claim procedure can only take place in the event that the deposit made by a third party is fraudulent, that is to say that the third party has filed a mark with the intention of harming.
The success of the action in the claim of ownership assumes that the applicant demonstrates on the one hand the previous use on the sign and on the other hand the fraud or the violation of a right.
The opposition or the claim of ownership is exercised within six months of the publication. After this period, it is no longer possible to exercise any opposition.
Judicial litigation
These are legal proceedings relating to intellectual property rights. We distinguish actions relating to the validity of industrial property securities, namely:
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The certificate of recording of the utility model |
Read article 34 Annex II which lists the cases in which a utility model can be considered null |
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The brand registration certificate |
The registration of a mark is an administrative act which cannot linked the courts seized of a dispute on its validity. The registration of a brand is in no way a guarantee of validity, an interested third party can invoke in court the nullity of the brand by the main route or most often by the reconvention. |
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The trade name |
The nullity of the trade name is pronounced under the provisions of article 14 Annex V of the Bangui agreement. |
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The certificate of vegetable obtaining |
Article 40 of Annex X of AB provides for the cancellation by the court of the certificate of plant obtaining if it is established that the variety was not: new or separate on the date of filing of the request; The variety was not homogeneous or the plant obtaining certificate was issued to a person who was not entitled to it. |
Then there are two main actions on which the intellectual property disputes are generally based:
