This country is a member of the African Intellectual Property Organization (AIPO or OAPI). OAPI is a central trademark registration system for the French speaking African countries. The member states for OAPI are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. The fees listed here are to afford this coverage. Trademarks are assigned through the Council of Scientific and Technological Research, Presidency of the Government. Equatorial Guinea is not a member of the Madrid Protocol and is a member of OAPI. A trademark is valid for 10 years and may be renewed for further periods of 10 years each.