Intellectual property law firm Von Seidels has recently opened two new African offices, one in Cameroon serving OAPI and the other in Nigeria.

Oswald Alembong, who worked in Von Seidels head office in Cape Town, South Africa for five years and qualified as a South African patent attorney, returned to his home country of Cameroon in January to establish Von Seidels OAPI office. OAPI (Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle) is a regional filing system for patents and trade marks providing protection in all its member countries: Benin, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Togo and Comoros.

In Nigeria, Von Seidels partnered with experienced IP attorney Okey Onyekanma to establish its office in the capital, Abuja. Together with the firm’s head office in South Africa and existing Namibia office which serves ARIPO (regional filing system: 18 member countries), Von Seidels offices now cover the majority of the African continent’s economy. South Africa, ARIPO, OAPI and Nigeria combined comprise 70% of Africa’s countries. In the rest of Africa Von Seidels works with trusted and carefully selected agents.

 

For more information please contact:

Lisa Cilliers

Tel: +27 21 526 2800