New IP Law in Morocco

A new Industrial Property law (23-13) in place of 17/97 came into force in Morocco recently. Some important changes include:

Patents

• There is a new reach for the divisional patent applications and a provision for compulsory licenses for non- exploitation of an invention.
• It also confirms that the annuities are only payable once the patent is granted.
• The European Patent Office (EPO) has entered into an agreement with the Morocco Industrial and Commercial Property Office (OMPIC) for the validation of the European patents, which will be in force from March 1, 2015.
• The term for filing priority documents has been increased from three to four months.

Trademarks

• Substantive Examination required for the trade mark applications.

The new laws also makes provision for design and models, where the registration will be for a five year period, and this term will be extendable for further four five –year periods.

Click here for more details

Photo Credit: jim/www.flickr.com / CC BY-SA 2.0