Morocco’s Intellectual Property Office, WIPO sign MoU to Boost Cooperation

PERSISMA, Rabat – The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Moroccan Industrial and Commercial Property Office (OMPIC) signed, on Thursday in Rabat, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to lay the foundations for bilateral cooperation.

Signed by WIPO Director General, Francis Gurry, and OMPIC Director General, Adil El Malki, the MoU aims to set up a framework of cooperation for technical assistance provided by WIPO to OMPIC, a well as cooperation activities for the implementation of the 2016-2020 industrial and commercial property strategy.

Cooperation activities focuses on five areas, namely capacity building, the promotion of industrial property and training, innovation support, the fight against counterfeiting and the development of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

Speaking on this occasion, Abbou highlighted Morocco’s experience in the field of industrial property, noting that the kingdom was among the first countries to join the WIPO and ratify the conventions managed by the organization.

“Morocco, which established a national strategy of industrial and commercial property, has become a regional leader in this field, which allowed it to submit its bid to host WIPO field office,” Abbou added.

For his part, Gurry reaffirmed WIPO’s commitment to supporting OMPIC activities and Morocco’s policy, particularly in terms of the democratization of knowledge.