On March 25 this year, the Comoro Islands signed the Bangui(1) Agreement, thereby becoming the 17th Member State of AIPO alongside Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Congo, the Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad and Togo.
Their affiliation took effect on May 25 2013. Since that date, any registration of trademarks, patents, models and plant varieties filed with AIPO is also protected within the Comoro Islands.
Trademarks filed before May 25 2013 with AIPO do not include the Comoros but it is possible to extend protection there via a simple extension request and the payment of a tax.
In the same way, rights holders registered in the Comoro Islands before May 25 2013 can extend their protection to cover all Member States of AIPO by filing an extension request.
As regards trademarks in the process of registration or publication by AIPO, an extension to new Member States is equally possible. The deadline for requesting these extensions is January 25 2015.
Dreyfus is at your disposal to advise you concerning this opportunity to extend your rights to AIPO or to the Comoro Islands.
(1)Concerning the creation of the African Intellectual Property Organization finalized on March 2 1977