This is the procedure for opposition and the procedure for claiming ownership and their appeal:

These procedures take place before the Director General of the OAPI and are based on the principle of adversarial. The decision rendered by the Director General concerning an opposition or a claim of ownership is subject to appeal before the Higher Commission of Appeal of the OAPI, Body composed of professional magistrates nationals of the Member States of the OAPI.

The opposition procedure

A title regularly registered offers its owner an exclusive exploitation of its creation. This means that any infringement of this exclusive right can be punished. However, one of the most frequent breaches is the filing of a creation identical or similar to a title already registered and therefore protected; this creates a risk of confusion between the two titles. In this sense, the OAPI has set up the opposition action that allows a licensee to defend its title against unfair competitors. By means of the opposition action, the competitor may be refused registration of his newly filed trademark, model or patent.

The procedure for opposition to registration is divided into two aspects :

• You can bring an opposition action against a new sign identical to yours;
• Or conversely, you can be the subject of an opposition after you have filed your sign.
  

Do you want to object to the registration of the sign of a potential competitor? The ALPHINOOR & CO team accompanies you during this procedure.

The procedure for claiming ownership

The claim procedure can only take place where the filing made by a third party is fraudulent, that is to say that the third party made a filing with the intention of harming. The most frequent cases of this type of action are usually between employees or associates and their former employers.

The success of a claim for property presupposes that the plaintiff demonstrates on the one hand the prior use on the sign and on the other hand the fraud or violation of a right.