Trademark Registration in Morocco
A trademark protects the name you sell under, not the company that owns it. Until it is registered with OMPIC (the Moroccan industrial and commercial property office), nothing stops a competitor from filing it in your place and then barring you from using it. The filing itself is a quick formality: it is the preparation that determines whether your protection will hold.
What a trademark protects, and what it does not
A trademark is a sign that distinguishes your goods or services from everyone else's: a name, a slogan, a logo, or a name combined with a graphic device. Registration gives you an exclusive right to exploit that sign, for the activities you have designated, and the right to act against anyone who uses it without your consent.
What a trademark does not protect is an idea or a business concept. The appearance of a product falls under design law, a technical invention under patent law: these are separate titles, filed separately.
The most widespread confusion concerns the company name. The certificat négatif (name availability certificate) obtained when your company is incorporated reserves a name on the commercial register; it gives you no trademark right. A company can therefore trade for years under a name that another business will lawfully register as a trademark.
How a filing proceeds
The outcome is decided upstream: once the application is in, the room for correction is narrow, and a refused filing is not refunded.
Prior rights search
We search the OMPIC registers to confirm that no identical or similar mark is already registered in your classes of activity.
Choice of sign and classes
We settle with you the form of the filing, word or figurative, and the list of goods and services to be covered. It is the most structuring choice in the file.
Filing with OMPIC
The applicant named on the filing will own the right: company or individual, this is a point to settle beforehand, not afterwards.
Examination
The office checks that the filing is in order and that the sign is distinctive. A purely descriptive or misleading mark can be refused at this stage.
Publication and opposition
The application is published in the official industrial property catalogue. A period then opens during which holders of earlier rights may file an opposition.
Issue of the certificate
In the absence of opposition, registration is granted and the certificate is issued to you. It is your title, enforceable against third parties.
Classes under the Nice Classification
A trademark is never protected for everything: it is protected for specified goods and services, grouped in the international Nice Classification, which has forty-five classes. Two businesses can carry an identical name without getting in each other's way, as long as they operate in classes with no connection between them.
This is the principle of speciality, and it is the commonest trap: a trading company that files only the class of its merchandise does not protect its distribution activity. The number of classes also affects the cost of the filing. So we look for the balance between the actual activity, the activity that can be foreseen, and superfluous classes that would expose you to revocation for non-use.
Trademark, company name, domain name
Three different signs, three registers, three scopes. Holding all three is the only comfortable position.
| Title | Issued by | Protects | What it does not do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trademark | OMPIC | The sign for the classes filed | Reserves neither the company name nor the domain |
| Company name | Commercial register | The name of the legal entity | Does not stop a third party filing it as a trademark |
| Domain name | Registrar | The address of the site | Confers no industrial property right |
Term, renewal and territorial scope
A registration takes effect for ten years from the filing date and is renewable indefinitely for further periods of the same length. It is one of the few titles you can keep without limit, provided you do not miss the deadline: a forgotten renewal leaves the sign free, and anyone will be able to take it. Protection also presupposes genuine use: a mark left unexploited over a prolonged period becomes vulnerable to a revocation action.
Finally, protection stops at Morocco's borders. To cover other territories there are two routes: filing with each national office, or going through the Madrid System administered by WIPO (OMPI), which allows a base mark to be extended to several member countries through a single application. The second is generally the more economical as soon as several countries are targeted.
The mistakes that cost the most
Almost every dispute we see arise has its origin in one of these situations.
- Filing too late, once the name has become visible: that is the moment a third party has the most to gain from filing it before you
- Choosing a name that merely describes the activity, which the office will refuse or which will let you stop nothing a competitor does
- Getting the classes wrong, or keeping only one to save money, and discovering the gap at the first conflict
- Filing only the logo when it is the name that circulates and that will be copied
- Letting the renewal deadline pass for want of portfolio monitoring
Frequently asked questions
Should a trademark be filed before or after incorporating the company?
Filing after incorporation lets you record the company directly as the owner and avoids a later assignment. But if the name is already known, or about to be, it is better to file at once, even if the mark is then assigned to the company.
What if someone has filed my name before me?
It all depends on how old and how real your use is. Several levers exist: opposition if the other application is still within its period, an invalidity action if the filing was made in bad faith, a revocation action if the mark is not exploited, or the negotiation of a coexistence agreement.
Does a certificat négatif protect my trademark?
No. It reserves a company name on the commercial register and confers no right over the commercial sign. A third party can register as a trademark a name already used as a company name by another company.
Does my Moroccan trademark protect me abroad?
No, protection is strictly territorial. To extend it you must file in each country targeted, either with the national offices or through the Madrid international system administered by WIPO on the basis of your Moroccan filing.
Can a trademark be filed in a personal name?
Yes, an individual can own a trademark. This is useful when the company has not yet been formed or when several entities will use the same sign. A licence must then be formalised in favour of the company that uses the mark.
Let us check whether your name is available
Send us the name you have in mind and your activity: we run the prior rights search, identify the classes to cover and give you a clear opinion before any filing.