Morocco to accept European patents
Morocco has become the first country that is not signed up to the European Patent Organisation to validate European patents.
The agreement will allow European patents to be validated by the Moroccan Industrial and Commercial Property Office from March 1.
European applications and patents administered by Morocco will have the same legal rights there as those from Morocco itself, and will be subject to Moroccan patent law.
The news was announced yesterday (January 19) by Benoît Battistelli, president of the EPO, and Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Morocco’s minister of industry, trade, investment and the digital economy.
Elalamy said the agreement confirmed Morocco’s strategy of integrating itself into the global economy and signified a turning point in the country’s intellectual property laws.
The European Patent Organisation is the umbrella body of the EPO, which assesses European patent applications, and its supervisory body, the Administrative Council.
