COLLECTIVE TRADEMARKS IN OAPI LAW

Trademarks are dazzlingly diverse. They fall into various categories to which the law assigns virtually specific regimes. In addition to individual trademarks which embody common trademark law there are the discreet but omnipresent collective trademarks. Under the impetus of the TRIPS Agreement OAPI legislators have enshrined collective marks as a distinct category of trademark. However they are based on common trademark law. Are they a break with or a continuation of the unity of common trademark law? The assumption is that collective marks are subject to the influence of ordinary trademark law even though they manage to distinguish themselves. The particularization of collective trademarks from common trademark law is both salutary and commendable given the diverse and atypical functions assigned to them in terms of economic and cultural development and incidentally consumer protection of the products and services of the group owning the collective trademark.