MISSIONS OF OAPI

Patent rights being essentially a factor of development, and the body, which manages it necessarily, has a triple mission

• Issuing of protection titles
• Documentation and information
• Involvement in development

I - Issuing

The traditional mission of a patent rights authority such as AIPO is naturally the registration and issuing of titles, following a procedure common to all member state, on the basis of the Bangui Agreement and other regulatory texts such as schedules, administrative instructions, etc... In respect, AIPO acts in the name and on account of the member states.

II - Documentation and Information

The Bangui Agreement makes it an obligation to AIPO to publish by way of information the essential content of the titles which it issues. The Official Patent Rights Bulletin (BOPI) of the organization illustrates this provision of the Agreement well. The desire to see AIPO play a more important role in documentation and information, led the legislators to provide in the actual agreement, a schedule entitled 'the documentation center shall contribute to the promotion of the technical and industrial development of member states of the organization by putting at their disposal documents and information related to inventions.

III - Involvement in Technological Development

A nation can only aspire to industrial development if its patent rights system provides sufficient guarantee for investors.

Therefore, AIPO puts in place a programme of information, sensitisation, training and of assistance to the promotion of invention and innovation, directed to the different levels of society where there is a need for patent rights law.