OCP end of study project

Maroua Bakkali/67329

MGT 3302-01

Dr. Rinehart Duncan

Assignment: Intellectual Property in Morocco

Chosen format of intellectual property: Patents

Intellectual properties refer to any type of products out of the human intellect; that is protected by the law from any use without authorization. In fact, owning intellectual property rights establishes a narrow monopoly on protected property. Traditionally, intellectual property includes four categories: patent/brevet, trademark, copyright and trade secrets. (“Intellectual property”, 2017). In accordance with was published by Cornell Law school, Intellectual property is generally constituted of two main forms which are as follow: industrial properties that comprises trademarks and patents along with copyrights that includes anything related to literacy such as books and poems, drawings and architectural plans. (“Intellectual property”, 2017).

In this paper, I will be discussing patents as a form of intellectual property, and for this purpose, I will need to bring up few questions. First, what is by definition a “patent”, and what rights does it actually protect? How to get and secure patent’s rights in Morocco? And finally, what is the most convenient process in order to defend those rights against infringement?

To begin with, a patent is an exceptional right provided to someone for an original innovative invention he/she came up with, it can sometimes be a product or a new method to do things, or an advanced technical competency to solve problems. Patent holders are granted with exclusive rights to protect the ownership of their inventions over a limited period of 20 years (Long, 2004).

Generally, patentability has main 4 conditions that should be fulfilled: usefulness, innovation, patentable case and mysteriousness, besides, patent is known to be classified into 3 major types: design, plant and utility which is the most frequently used one (Long, 2004).

The procedure to apply for a patent is complicated, it is in reality costly and may take up to six years. Clarisa long recommends that individuals should hire and seek help from a qualified attorney (Long, 2004).

According to Carl Shapiro, patents are profitable to enhance the human’s life conditions given the fact that they encourage people to be more innovative and unique. What is more, patent prevents from the theft of any invention without the permission of the owner. Generally patent rights are exercised in courts that have the power to prohibit patent infringement in most systems. A court can even find a patent void when a third party has successfully challenged it. (Shapiro, 2006).  By way of illustration, patent holders have the right to legally sue and prosecute a person if he/she violates or damages the patent property entitlements. They also have the right to determine who will or will not be allowed to use patented creation throughout the indicated period of protection. In other words, and as stated previously, the patent intellectual property protects the invention from being commercially manufactured, used without proper notice, distributed, exported or imported without the permission of the patent’s proprietor. (Shapiro, 2006).  

In order for individuals to protect their patent rights in Morocco, they should first be registered in both “the Moroccan Office of Industrial Property “at Casablanca and “Industrial Property Office” at Tangier. Extending the deadline of an expired patent is not possible in Morocco, effectively, patent owners must start paying annuities from the date of depositing the statement of claim,

, whether prior to or after patent approval. In fact, a 6 months’ grace period of time is permitted for late annuities payments (Abu Ghazaleh, 2016). In order to enable people to get a patent in Morocco, the should first register in Casablanca and tangier office, and then pay the mandatory patent fees and fill the required documents on time. The public official language of any patent in morocco is normally French, sometimes, people may feel it in a different language but they will be asked to formally translate it within a time limit of no more than 3 months. Individuals must bear in mind that in order to get a patent, they need to deposit the priority documents such as the invention title and explanation to the patent office in French language (other languages must be translated to French), among the three first months of filling the patent application in Morocco. After going through this steps, one shall get a signed document from an attorney which is called power of attorney. After the completion of the stated above requirements, the application goes through the final step which is examination of the request along with the deposited documents, and the person yearning to get the patent will receive an answer afterword clearly stating whether or not he/she receives the approval (Abu Ghazaleh, 2016).

In order to protect this form of intellectual property, the Moroccan legislator put under provisions of the citizens a law of protection of patents rights that evidently says that any patent holder in Morocco has the right to judicially sue any legal or natural person who already used/ intending to use their invention without a prior notice or a proper authorization. The Moroccan law holds its self-ready to severely punish and prosecute anybody who violates intentionally or unintentionally the patents rights. (Abu Ghazaleh, 2016).

Morocco revisited its industrial property law to fit the international standards of protection of intellectual property rights, under this light, morocco promulgated and approved new laws to meet the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. With respect to TRIPs (Trade related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) of the World Trade Organization, the person who owns the patent has certain special rights, for instance the right to third parties from making, using, offering for sale without the permission and consent of the patent owner. These exclusive rights are also known as “mutatis mutandis” which enforce the mandatory provision of the patent owner’s consent. These special rights provide the owner of the patent with the right to include into the license agreement third parties and also the right to assign his or her own patent. (Abu Ghazaleh, 2016).

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