PRACTICE AREAS

TRADEMARK-PATENT- DESIGNS & COPYRIGHT

PATENT

– Patents filings & annuities payments

We assist clients on filing the patents applications and to the annuities payments in all Africa on time, so that their portfolios are maintained :

• In the 17 OAPI countries (Benin, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea (Conakry), Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Togo),
• In the 18 ARIPO countries (Botswana, Kingdom of Eswatini, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Kingdom of Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe),
• In others africans countries : Angola – Burundi – Cape Verde – Democratic Republic Of Congo – Djibouti – Eritrea – Ethiopia – Djibouti  – Madagascar – Mauritius – Nigeria – Seychelles – Somalia – South Africa – South Sudan.

We litigate Patents issues in courts.

TRADEMARK REGISTRABILITY SEARCH

We provide trademark search and analytics; trademark searching demands high degree of focus and intelligent sense of playing with words.

 We have mastered the art of trademark searching. It is only qualified attorneys who perform search assignment – thereby quantifying the search reports.

We perform trademark search in the whole African countries.

We provide preliminary advice on registrability and other general advisory.

TRADEMARATIONK REGISTR

 We assist clients in the registration process through OAPI countries and ARIPO in the whole OAPI countries.

We provide clients services relating to the acquisition, enforcement and commercialisation of trademarks and other intellectual property rights.

TRADEMARK RENEWAL

We provide trademarks renewals service in the whole Africa

TRADEMARK LITIGATION – OPPOSITION– RESTORATION– ANTI-COUNTERFEITING – UNFAIR COMPETITION.

Africa’s economic growth brings with it an increasing number of commercial disputes involving intellectual property rights.

We handle trademark litigation for clients in courts across Africa.

We assist clients in drafting requests for oppositions to the registration of trademarks and to defend their interests in the event of receipt of a notice of opposition to the registration of trademarks.

We assist clients in drafting requests for the restoration of the trademark protection or for the  lapsed of  priorities.

We assist clients in the event of unfair competition, abuse of a dominant position, damage to the image or reputation of the business of others.

Counterfeiting is a growing issue to intellectual property rights holders. Counterfeit goods constantly infiltrate market places around the world, particularly Africa.

As anti-counterfeiting services:

We work with a network of investigating firms and customs officials across Africa, in order to conduct surveillance exercises, identify counterfeiting activities, detain containers and enforce anti-counterfeiting rights.

We assist clients by identifying perpetrators through to enforcing anti-counterfeiting rights and handling the prosecution of counterfeiting matters against importers.

We implement effective anti-counterfeiting programs, including regular brand identification training for customs officials across Africa to help them identify and detain goods that are suspected counterfeits.

We prepare all formal documents such as summons, pleadings, heads of argument and affidavits.

CUSTOMS SEIZURES

 All across Africa we work with local investigators and lawyers to give them a full, detailed brief.

Anti-counterfeiting measures in Africa

Effective protection is available in several African countries. Enforcing those provisions cannot be underestimated. To achieve the best results, considerable preparation is required. For a successful anti-counterfeiting program, brand identification training is highly recommended otherwise it is difficult and at times impossible for customs and/or police to identify and detain possible counterfeit goods.

Many African countries have an acceptable standard of legal remedies and capacity, and effective action can be taken against counterfeits in: Algeria, Botswana, Cameroon, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Customs watch notices or surveillance requests are effective and available in Algeria, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa, Sudan and Tunisia.

Although Ghana does not have legal provisions for customs watches, they are possible in practice. Conversely, Ethiopia has legal provisions for customs watches, which are not currently possible in practice. 

COMMERCIAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The fusion of our rich background in intellectual property law and our expertise in corporate and commercial law practice affords us the rare skill combination required to assist clients navigate safely through the intricate intellectual property issues that arise in commercial transactions.

We assist our clients in evaluating their IP portfolio or those of companies of interests to them, with a view to ascertaining the ownership, quality and quantity of IP assets of the target company. Each IP due diligence/Audit exercise is carried out meticulously thus ensuring the accuracy and exhaustiveness of same. We conduct IP due diligence / audit exercises from the standpoint of a clear understanding of the client’s specific business objectives and are therefore able to provide clients with an detailed report that is appropriate for each specific transaction.

FRANCHISING

We provide specialist legal advice on various aspects of franchise transactions and guide clients through the maze of legal, regulatory and transactional hurdles that are usual to franchise arrangements. Whether it is a major international brand seeking to expand into the OAPI commercial space, or a local entity seeking to buy a franchise, we provide our clients with tailor-made advice that ensures that their commercial interests are well-served.

IP LICENSING

Developing license strategies, negotiating and drafting license agreements are part of the services we offer under our commercial IP practice. We help our clients determine license arrangements that align with each client’s peculiar business strategy and objectives.

IP CO-EXISTENCE / SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS

There is an increasing preference for settlement of IP disputes through Co-existence/Settlement Agreements, rather than the usual dispute resolution mechanisms.

We work with clients on dispute resolution on their trademarks, patents, designs and copyright cases to reach the optimum settlement approach.

We leverage on our experience to help clients negotiate settlement on intricate IP disputes.

CONTRACTS – MERGERS – ACQUISITIONS – DISTRIBUTIONS – COMPETITION – LITIGATION

The Business Regulatory & Advisory Practice provides comprehensive and specialized advice and assistance to start-ups and mature companies for both locals and foreigners alike Corporates and Individuals. The Practice services range from preliminary enquiries to actual setting up of businesses in Cameroon, maintaining business operations in compliance with prevailing regulations to legal advisory on exit strategies.

• The practice is based on an in-depth knowledge of the business environment and investment opportunities, an understanding of the social, cultural and economic issues in Cameroon and a wealth of experience in business regulatory matters.

• We appreciate our Clients’ commercial goals, constraints and concerns and make it our business to know our Clients’ businesses.

MERGERS –ACQUISITIONS

We are preeminent adviser in Mergers and Acquisitions transactions and cross-border acquisitions within Cameroon and the Central & West Africa sub-region

We appreciate the peculiarity of each transaction, recognising that no two transactions are the same. We ensure that structuring and implementation of the transaction is driven by the commercial objectives of the deal, resolution of regulatory concerns, preservation of shareholder value and actualisation of requisite synergies.

We pride ourselves in our ability to guide our clients through the legal, regulatory and industry peculiarities as well as the corporate, social and political nuances that may relate to the transaction.

We support our clients throughout the transaction life-cycle – from due diligence investigations to documentation drafting, review and negotiation, obtaining regulatory approvals, bid documentation review, completion and post-completion. We provide an end-to-end transaction management support for the entire transaction process and negotiations.

We assist corporates transactions for public and private companies. Our services range from company registration to day-to-day corporate activities (organizing board meetings, shareholder meetings, approval of financial statements, appointment of directors, etc.) and any equity-related transactions.

We accompany our clients for restructuring, administration and receivership, as well as privatization. We also provide corporate governance advice to our clients.

DISTRIBUTIONS- COMPETITION –LITIGATION

We assist businesses in drafting and negotiating commercial agreements (e.g. franchise agreements, protocol agreements, sales distribution conditions and lease agreements).

We assist clients in business take-overs, sale of assets and litigations.

The company must constantly ensure that its commercial interests are respected in order to improve its competitive positioning. It must also react to the non-performance of its partners’ contractual obligations, the recovery of its debts and unfair competition.

PROPERTY & REAL ESTATE, CONVEYANCING & DEVELOPMENT

Investing in, developing, occupying and funding infrastructure assets has never been more complex.

Our firm assists our clients in structuring and completing real estate projects in Cameroon and in the sub-region (including negotiation and drafting contracts, reviewing contracts, contracts for financing, etc.).

We equally provide advisory services to national and international investors in Cameroon and with cross-border mortgage litigation.

SPORTS & ENTERTAINEMENT LAW

Sports and entertainment law incorporates various practice areas.
These include:

Contracts, labour, corporate finance, intellectual property, and conflict resolution.

Our role includes becoming knowledgeable and having understanding of the peculiarities of the client to be able to adequately protect their legal interests.

AVIATION LAW

We provides services on air transport regulation, aeronautics, insurance under air transport, contract drafting and financing.

We have acted as local counsel in several aircraft wet lease agreements and give advice from time to time on liens and aircraft registration requirements. We are often involved in providing legal advice to international airlines leasing companies entering into aircraft operating lease agreements with domestic passenger airline carriers.

 We have also provided services on behalf of clients involving drafting operating lease agreements, powers of attorney and assignment of aircraft insurance.

We assisted in the complete start up legal advice of international airline operations. We routinely advise on corporate regulatory compliance ranging from their employment and labour issues to importation of skilled personnel.

We are local counsel to a number of domestic and International passenger airline companies we provide legal representation in claims and disputes under contracts of air carriage.

MARITIME LAW

Our law firm assists clients in Maritime law, maritime litigation, maritime contract drafting, and maritime insurance, civil liability under transport law, indemnity, regulatory coverage and financing.

The Firm is active in all areas of International trade and maritime law. The shipping group offers clients comprehensive legal services charter-party disputes, cargo claims, and carriage contracts.

We attend to emergencies and obtain first-hand information on the location of vessels.

We have varied experience in matters ranging from traditional “blue water” shipping, personal injury, cargo, long shore and towage operations to “brown water” oil and gas activities involving the exploration, development, pollution and environmental litigation, production and transportation of oil and gas.

MINING / ENERGY &  NATURAL RESSOURCES

We advise clients in relation to mineral exploration and production. We have over the years acquired significant mining experience and are often sought out by clients for advisory, regulatory and investment framework in the mineral sector.

 The firm contributes to sectorial policy advancements by providing industry updates.

We provides a platform for robust sectorial policy analysis through knowledge exchange programmes it periodically organises in collaboration with leading international law firms

ENVIRONNEMENTAL LAW 

The firm Environmental law practice is the foremost environmental law practice in Cameroon. The firm has developed extensive expertise in several areas of environmental law advising and representing public and private entities as well as governments.

We practice in many specialized and complex areas of environmental law and represent clients in regulatory matters, permit proceedings, due diligence investigations, litigation, and a variety of corporate transactions. We advise on emissions trading, carbon reduction and clean development projects.

 Our multi-disciplinary approach allows efficient and comprehensive solutions for clients interested in, or impacted by, energy needs and innovations.

FOREST EXPLOITATION

As a matter of fact, 75% of Cameroon is covered with forest or woodland. The forests and biodiversity of Cameroon constitute a significant portion of the Congo basin, the world’s second largest ecosystem after the Amazon basin. Thus Cameroon’s forest has a long history of commercial logging.

As, the area annually opened up for logging has increased significantly as has the number of species harvested. Cameroon is today the leading exporter of tropical timber in Africa. The logging sector is dominated by a small number of foreign companies with the financial and technical capacity to overcome hurdles such as transport difficulties. Notwithstanding there is a history of conflict over the ownership and use of forests, often the result of local communities resentment at being denied access to the benefits of forest activities.

We assist our clients by Drafting of contracts, Acting as agents on behalf of our clients by getting in touch with permit holders towards the procurement, transportation and shipment of timber-related products ;Obtaining Procurement of operating agreements to wit Allocation of a forest concession ,Renewal of a forest concession, Transfer of a forest concession ,Surrendering a forest concession, Negotiation of buying and exportation of felled timber; Operating permits for special forest products; Operating permits for timber (logs and sawn wood);  Marketing and promotion of forest products; Financial and fiscal (tax) provisions as per the law;  advise  the clients so that  they don’t  be victims of punishment of infringements of the law.

INSURANCE

We have a strong experience in insurance law and we provide advisory services to insurance and re-insurance companies on industry related issues providing assistance on legal advisory or litigation.

LABOUR LAW & EMPLOYEMENT

Our firm advises on all aspects of labour law for local and foreign law firms, governments, individuals and corporate bodies. We are frequently consulted by foreign law firms, professionals and corporate bodies on various aspects of labor law in relation to Cameroon.

BANKING & FINANCE

Trusted advisor to leading banks and other financial institution;

We assist our clients in project financing, trade finance, financing of fixed assets needs and import and exportWe provide assistance to banks and other financial institutions, DFIs for their lending facilities parastatals, African governments in projects in mining, energy, infrastructure and agriculture sectors, either in Cameroon or the sub-Saharan region by drafting and negotiating agreements and all ancillary documentation.

PUBLIC LAW, PUBLIC PROCUREMENT & PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP

Our firm provide assistance in all economic relations with legal entities governed by public law and in particular in the drafting and negotiation of public-private partnership contracts, public procurement and over-the-counter contracts.

HEALTH& PHARMACEUTICAL LAW

F&P IP firm has a multidisciplinary team with knowledge and skills enabling it to provide useful, effective and objective advice to professionals in the health and pharmacy sectors.

 We count among our clients, inventors who are physical persons of various nationalities, Universities, pharmaceutical laboratories and firms, suppliers and distributors of pharmaceutical products as well as companies specializing in health care.

We are also very often approached by pharmaceutical companies who fight against the counterfeiting of their products in Africa.

We manage a large portfolio of medical Patents   in OAPI, ARIPO, South Africa, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Algeria, etc… .. and Trademarks of drugs from Universities, laboratories and pharmaceutical companies in the United States. USA, India, China, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Democratic Republic of Congo  etc….

Our intellectual property portfolio contains more than 500 brands of medicines and 200 Patents for inventions of pharmaceutical products / processes.

IMMIGRATION ADVISORY, CROSS-BORDER & COMPLIANCE

The Immigration Practice of our Firm covers all aspects of inbound and outbound immigration service. We offer:

– Immigration Advisory.

– The application of business and non-business visas such as:

• Temporal visas,
• Long stay visas,
• Resident permits (renewals/extension inclusive),
• Tourist visas,
• Family relocation application,
• Exit visas,
• Legalization of documents, local registration, document verification, due diligence etc.
• We render immigration services for all players in the market ranging from small and medium size enterprises, private investors to multinational and corporate entities.

DIGITAL LAW – DOMAINS NAMES -TELECOMMUNICATION – CYBER SECURITY – CYBER CRIMINALITY

Data protection & privacy, E-commerce & Information technology,

The advent of technology takes a significant interest in the world’s economy, we assist clients in this sector.

We advise clients on transactions pertaining to E commerce, cybersecurity, cybercrime, cyberattacks, blockchain, fintech etc.

We equally add value to players in the telecom sector by assisting them in the procurement of various authorizations and permits pertaining to their need in this sector.

We help obtain permits relevant to telecom service providers, certification of equipment’s, site acquisition services, network sharing, contract review etc.

Our domain name team provides the services for clients looking to register domain names throughout Africa, on their local and international registrations:

TAXATION AND FOREING INVESTMENT

The firm has a dedicated team of specialized lawyers knowledgeable in Tax aspects of any emerging tax regime in; providing innovative and professional advice, taking into consideration business needs and different jurisdictions. The team has a strong domestic tax capability both from practice qualification and experience.

Tax representation is an important feature of advice to clients in commercial transactions. Clients are routinely guided through tax benefits in corporate alliances and outright mergers and financial arrangements, restructurings and local labour tax implications. Specific areas of recent practice are capital market flotation, project financing, foreign and international participation in Cameroon enterprises including tax exemptions and the grant of pioneer status, employment and pensions regulations in Cameroon.

The process of setting up or acquiring new business interests in Cameroon is specialised. Private enterprise demands a clear overview of foreign participation regulations. We deliver targeted  advice on corporate structure to maximize investment objectives. Having advised both public and buyer interests, the firm is a leading advisor in privatization and is positioned to give credible assistance to interested parties in the on-going privatization of enterprises in Cameroon..

In the event of contentious disputes with tax authorities, a skillful litigation team will pursue protests, petitions and appeals to the tax commissioners and through to the  courts.

LITIGATION – ARBITRATION & DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Arbitration and mediation are now alternative dispute resolution methods. Very popular in the business world, these modes preserve the confidentiality of agreements and their execution with complete discretion. Above all, they allow a better adherence of the parties to the contract, to solutions built together.

FAMILY & MATRIMONIAL LAW

Family law deals with the branch of law pertaining to all matters that are related to family unit or other domestic relations such as adoption, child custody, divorce, domestic violence, juvenile dependency and delinquency, property rights, …

AGRIBUSINESS

Because Agribusiness is an economic concept that takes into account all the operations involved in the manufacture and distribution of agricultural products (operations of production, storage, treatment, distribution and transformation of agricultural raw materials…) the role of the lawyer throughout this process is undeniable.

We assist Farmers and agribusinesses who face legal issues and   look to creative and cutting-edge solutions to those issues.

We provide legal assistance for contracts, real estate issues and disputes.

Since agribusiness distribution channel is a long road from seed, to sale, to tables across the world. We have the skills, resources and legal knowledge to address the legal challenges at any stage of the agribusiness distribution channel.