UK Government survey on EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Morocco and Tunisia

News from the UK IPO that the European Commission is planning to launch free trade agreement negotiations with Morocco and Tunisia in the near future and that the UK Government is conducting a business survey about existing barriers to trade in these countries. They ask for responses to the survey by Friday 27th November. The survey is here.

This part of the Empty Quarter wanted to find out more about the Free Trade Agreement negotiations themselves, did some searching and found these useful summaries from the European Commission for Morocco and Tunisia.

Apparently negotiations for a "Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement" (DCFTA) between the EU and Morocco were launched on 1st March 2013. Four or five negotiating rounds have taken place. The DCFTA is intended to extend significantly beyond the scope of the existing Association Agreement to include trade in services, government procurement, competition, intellectual property rights, investment protection and the gradual integration of the Moroccan economy into the EU single market. The main objective of the DCFTA is to bring Moroccan legislation closer to EU legislation in trade-related areas.

Discussions with Tunisia do not seem to be so advanced.

EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Southern Mediteranean countries

News reaches, in a roundabout way, this part of the Empty Quarter of ongoing efforts by the European Commission to strengthen ties with those countries that border the Mediterranean.

There is an interesting portal to these efforts on the European Commission Euro-Mediterranean partnership webpage here. And there is a up to date summary of FTA and other trade negotiations in a PDF document here (which covers other countries as well). These are of interest because they lead to "Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements" which cover Intellectual Property.

Oman - plant varieties

A useful, brief, summary from good friends Saba & Co in their June 2015 newsletter (here) on the publication of the implementing regulations of Royal Decree No. 49 of 2009 promulgating the Law on the Protection of Breeders’ Rights in New Varieties of Plants.

They report that:

• applications may now be filed with the General Directorate for Plant and Animal Research at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. 
• filing requirements stipulate that applications must include a title and a full description, along with seeds and any other information or samples that may be requested by the authorities concerned. The protection term is 25 years for trees and grapevines, and 20 years for other plant varieties. 
• renewal fees will have to be paid annually from the filing date.

They then include a useful summary table setting some information about Cyprus, Egypt, India, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and the UAE.

WIPO - PCT country guides

This part of the Empty Quarter recently added some further newsletters to a subscription on the WIPO website as part of WIPO changing to a new WIPO e-newsletter platform. As a result this part of the Empty Quarter now knows about the WIPO PCT Applicant's Guide (here) which provides a very large amount of very useful information on Receiving Offices, International Searching Authorities, Supplementary Search, International Preliminary Examining Authorities, Deposits of Biological Material, and National Chapters on the National Phase.

There are entries for the UAE, Bahrain, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan (presumably North), Syria, and Tunisia.

The newsletter from WIPO reports that the National Chapter on Qatar has been updated.

UPDATE: A further newsletter from WIPO received today provides a link to the updated Annex C - Receiving Offices for Qatar which can be found here. 

This part of the Empty Quarter has a firm belief that as much information as possible should be freely available to all and is delighted to see so much information being shared by WIPO.

Morocco - WIPO domain name decision - bikhir.ma

News from WIPO (here) of the decision to order the transfer of the bikhir.ma domain from one local registrant to another. 

The decision is in French.

Morocco - WIPO domain name decision - orange.ma

News from WIPO (here) of the decision to order the transfer of the orange.ma domain from a local registrant to Orange Brand Services Limited.

The decision is in French. At the time of writing the transfer has not yet taken place and the garden plant related services of the registrant can be seen on the website.

Morocco - many changes to IP regime

Many reports of the many changes to the IP regime in Morocco. Useful summaries from February 2015 from many good friends: Spoor & Fisher here, H&H IP here, AGIP here; and Saba & Co. here.

Morocco - Afro-IP reports on IP policy in Morocco

A report from mid-September from the ever interesting and useful Afro-IP blog continuing the useful review of IP polocies in Africa comes to Morocco. The report reads:


Morocco does not yet have an IP policy nor was this Leo able to find any information on the development of such a policy. She decided to poke about to see what the country has been up to recently in the hope that this would reveal what a Moroccan IP policy is likely to prioritise.

Morocco is party to a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US (see full text here) and a co-operation agreement with the EPO (see here). Pursuant to her signature of the FTA, Morocco has a TRIPS- plus IP regulatory framework. Presumably also linked to this relationship with the US, Morocco was the only African country involved in the negotiation and conclusion of the ill-fated Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which she signed in 2011 (see here). All of this may be an indicator that the country favours a strong (read TRIPS plus) regime which this Leo fears may not be appropriate for a developing country. However, the country has shown some appreciation of the need to have a properly nuanced IP regime that caters for users through its signature of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled. It remains to be seen when the county will ratify the treaty and how her IP policy would balance her FTA obligations with user and societal rights.

....................
WIPOLex entry here
for a discussion of the Morocco-US FTA see Omar Aloui 'Intellectual Property Rights' in Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Claire Brunel and Dean DeRosa (ed.s) Capitalizing on the Morocco-US Free Trade Agreement: A Road Map for Success (Policy Analyses in International Economics) (2009) pp147 - 162 ; full text here
Thank you, Afro-IP!

EU Customs enforcement in 2013

The European Commision has released its report on enforcement by Customs against infringement of intellectual property rights in 2013. The report is available here. There is interesting information on countries from which goods have originated. In the region this blog seeks to cover the country mentioned the most is the UAE. Other countries mentioned are Egypt, Morocco, and Syria.

Morocco - Finance Law increases penalties for counterfeitintg

News from good friends H&H Consulting Law Firm of changes to enforcement in Morocco.  Moroccan Customs have set significant fines to be levied against importers of counterfeit products.  A new Finance Law came into force on 1 January 2014. That law states that importing counterfeit goods is a 'high level customs contravention'. The law deals with confiscation and destruction of counterfeit goods, compensation and fines. Fines can be up to three times the value of the tax due on the import.

This part of the Empty Quarter welcomes this news.  Strong legislation is key to protecting consumer. So much is, however, also down to implementation.

WCO Operational seminar in Tunisia from 9th to 13 December 2013

News that that WCO will organize an operational seminar in Tunisia. Five countries will be involved (Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt) . The seminar will take place in Tunis. Rights holders who are members of the WCO IPM program are allowed to present to the officials.

Eid Al Adha 2013 holidays

With thanks to good friends SMAS, who sent this out today, here is a table of government holidays across the region:

Bahrain - Monday 14 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013Egypt - Monday 14 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Iraq - Tuesday 15 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Jordan - Monday 14 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Kuwait - Friday 11 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Lebanon - Tuesday 15 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Libya - Monday 14 October 2013 to Sunday 20 October 2013
Morocco - Wednesday 16 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Oman - Monday 14 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Palestine - Sunday 13 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Qatar - Sunday 13 October 2013 to Sunday 20 October 2013
Saudi Arabia - Thursday 10 October 2013 to Sunday 20 October 2013
Sudan - Saturday 12 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Syria - Sunday 13 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Tunisia - Tuesday 15 October 2013 to Wednesday 16 October 2013
U.A.E - Saturday 12 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Yemen - Sunday 13 October 2013 to Sunday 20 October 2013

Wholesale changes to the Moroccan Law on Industrial Property

News from good friends H&H Consulting that draft amendments to the Law on Industrial Property in Morocco have been presented to the Secretariat General of the Government. The news says:

“The aim is to enhance the level of protection of industrial property in Morocco and comply with the relevant international standards under various international treaties to which Morocco is a party; including the TRIPS Agreement, the Treaty on Trademark Law Treaty (TLT) and the Free Trade Agreement between Morocco and the United States of America.

Furthermore, in a number of partnership agreements, Morocco undertakes to adhere to the fundamental treaties on industrial property such as the Patent Law Treaty (PLT), the Singapore Treaty on trademark rights and the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs.

In addition, the advanced status granted by the European Union in Morocco provides, among other things, the mutual commitment of both parties to ensure a level of protection of industrial property rights in accordance with the “Acquis Communautaire” in this field. Therefore, an agreement was signed on December 17th, 2010 between Morocco and the European Patent Organization on the validation of European patents. [IPEQ wonders : anyone mention the Unitary Patent?]

The main objectives of this draft amendment revolve around the following points:

1) Improving the system of invention patents,

2) Consolidating the national trademarks system,

3) Reforming the National System of Industrial Designs,

4) Strengthening the implementation of industrial property rights,

5) Upgrading the procedure for filing applications for industrial property rights.

a) The formalities for securities deposit

b) The extension of the deadline for restoration of rights

c) The opposition procedure

d) The system of date marking

e) Electronic filing of applications for registration of industrial designs

f) Organization of the profession of intellectual property consulting”

This part of the Empty Quarter thanks H&H for the report which was much longer in original and attached further information in French – so, please, if you would like more information do make contact with them direct. This part of the Empty Quarter welcomes any improvements in legislation and looks forward to hearing further on the implementation of the changes.

Oppositions in Morocco based on one mark only

Interesting advice on an opposition recently in Morocco. Oppositions must be based on one mark only. While it is possible to refer to other marks in the opposition text the actual opposition can be based on one prior registration only.  Article 148.2 of Law 17/97 sates  “opposition to this application may be initiated with the body in charge of industrial protection by the proprietor of a mark protected or registered prior to the said application or enjoying a previous priority date, or by the proprietor of a pre-existing well-known mark…”. The Trade Mark Office insist on basing decisions one mark only on the basis that article 148.2 does not state clearly that the opposition may be based on several marks (d’une marque protégée).

While Morocco may be a long way from the Empty Quarter, this part of it cannot help but feel that this is a remarkably narrow view to take. Can it be right that as a rights holder of a family of marks I am prevented from relying on more than one of them when filling an opposition. Should the Trade Mark Office really limit itself by considering one prior right to have, effectively, primacy over others? This part of the Empty Quarter expects that the drafting of the Law was not intended to be limiting in the way that the Trade Mark Office has interpreted it to be. It would seem common sense that the Trade Mark Office should consider whichever marks the rights holder seeks to rely on. 

OHIM and OMPIC discuss collaboration

There is a news item in the October 2012 Alicante News which mentions a meeting between OHIM and OMPIC which took place in October. The excerpt reads:

"And in the penultimate meeting in OHIM’s busy schedule in Geneva, it was the turn of one of the Office’s newest partners, Morocco, to meet with our delegation in the afternoon. Relations between the Moroccan Office OMPIC and OHIM began only recently, and OMPIC Director General Mr Adil El Maliki welcomed the opportunity for future cooperation with OHIM and, in turn, he was thanked by President Campinos for his initiative to meet with OHIM here at the WIPO General Assemblies. A number of possible collaboration initiatives were discussed, such as training for OMPIC examiners and the possibility of OMPIC attending the upcoming IP seminar for non-EU countries."

This part of the Empty Quarter welcomes OHIM providing support for Trade Mark Offices in developing and least developed countries. OHIM's cash surplus was, a few years ago, significant and while initiatives such as the Cooperation Fund and the Convergence Program are useful, it is in the developing and least developed countries that rights holders based in the EU will really feel the benefit of investment by OHIM. 

Public Holidays in Morocco

A public holiday in Morocco means that government offices are closed until 6 November, reopening on 7 November 2012.