The European Patent Office (EPO) and the Moroccan government have reached an agreement whereby from March 1, 2015 will be possible to perform validation of European patents in Morocco.
Therefore, Morocco becomes the first country non-member of the European Patent Office that validates the granting of European patents in its territory, which is a big jump in its legislation and a new incentive for investment.
As in all European Patents validation, the evaluated granting is equated with the one obtained within the patents processed as nationals. I.e.: European Patents valid in Morocco shall have the same legal effect as national patents, and shall be subject to Moroccan Patents Law.
Should be noted that the payment of a fee for the validation in Morocco will be required. Besides, clarify that it will not be necessary to provide the translation of the patent into its official language (Arabic), since the procedures are performed in French, which is one of the three EPO’s official languages (English, French and German).
Furthermore, mentioning that all grants of European patents are subject to a period of nine months of possible oppositions counting from the publication of such granting. The resolution of these oppositions are transferred to each national office, now also to the Moroccan Patent Office.
Before finalizing we remind that Tunisia has signed last July an agreement of European Patents validation, but it has not been ratified yet.
From Protectia Patentes y Marcas we will certainly follow the evolution and impact of these new validations of European patents in Morocco, and take them to practice in order to make our clients benefit from this new agreement.
