In our March 1999 Newsletter (N.S. 190), we reported that the Republic of Guinea-Bissau deposited its instrument of accession to the Bangui Agreement, thereby becoming a member of the African Organization for Intellectual Property (OAPI). OAPI has introduced a provision for extending existing OAPI intellectual property rights to new territories which join OAPI, upon payment of an extension fee. The regulations and forms for processing applications for extension have now been issued.

The regulations also provide for the extension to OAPI of existing rights in those territories which previously had their own registration system. These regulations will apply retroactively to Mali and Guinea which joined OAPI on September 30, 1984 and January 13, 1990 respectively.

The deadline for filing applications for extensions is 18 months from the date a new territory joins OAPI In the case of Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Mali, a term of 18 months from December 4, 1998 has been granted, and therefore extension applications in these three must be filed by

June 4, 2000.