Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property (OMPIC)

Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property (OMPIC)

The Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property is a self-funded public institution whose main functions are:

• The maintenance of national registers of industrial property and registration of all acts affecting the ownership of industrial property rights (trademarks, patents, industrial designs);
• OMPIC (Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property) is the organization in charge of the respect and protection of industrial and commercial property in Morocco.

A company may need the services of the OMPIC in the following cases:

• Firstly, to establish the company. In fact, the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property is the authority in charge of issuing negative certificates. A negative certificate is a document that ensures the exclusivity of the company’s name. It allows to avoid duplicates ;
• Secondly, to protect a trade name against unfair use by competitors ;
• Thirdly, to secure patents to protect a company’s (or an individual’s) inventions ;
  Also, to protect trademarks, designs and industrial models;
• Finally, the organization is also responsible for issuing extracts of the trade register (Kbis), balance sheets, and legal documents.