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.
- For instance, Articles of Association, Minutes,… of their clients or partners that have a public character.

P.S. : In accordance with legal provisions, companies are required to publish their balance sheets and the minutes of their meetings at least once a year.

In this article we will discuss the following :

What is the legal status of this organization ?
What are OMPIC’s missions ?
When to use the services of the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property ?
How can Upsilon Consulting help you in your dealings with the OMPIC ?

OMPIC – Morocco: Legal status and missions

OMPIC (Office Marocain de Propriété Industrielle et Commerciale) is a public organization established by the law 13-99.

In fact, the first Article of said Law states that OMPIC is a public institution endowed with:

Legal personality
Financial autonomy

This institution’s missions, as indicated in the said law, are as follows:

Firstly, keeping national registers of industrial property. To do so, the OMPIC must record all deeds related to industrial property;
Secondly, keeping a central trade register (and also a so-called “alphabetical file of natural and legal persons”);
Thirdly, conservation of copies of all deeds related to the commercial register and which are transmitted by the commercial courts;
Finally, make all necessary information available to the public in order to protect:
- inventions as well as commercial and industrial intellectual property rights
- traders’ registration in the trade register

From an organizational point of view, the Office is under the supervision of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Green and Digital Economy.

What services does OMPIC provide in Morocco?

As previously mentioned, the OMPIC has a wide scope of action. In order to fulfill its mission, OMPIC offers the following services to users:

OMPIC – Morocco: Patents

Patents management is one of the key missions of the OMPIC. The Office is in charge of maintaining and protecting patents by providing many services, namely:

- Patent search
- Filing of new patents
- International patent protection
- Protection of licenses and patent rights both in Morocco and abroad

OMPIC – Morocco: Trademarks

Trademarks’ management and protection is another mission of the OMPIC. Thus, OMPIC provides the following services:

- Preliminary trademark search. Through this service, you can check, before filing, whether a trademark has already been protected. The Office has a database that gives users access to:
  - Firstly, to the trademarks registered on a national level at the OMPIC
  - Also, to international registrations related to Morocco.
- Trademark registration. If the trademark is not protected, you must submit your request to protect it;
- Trademark renewal. The law protects a trademark for 10 years. If you wish to keep using it without risk, you must renew it at the end of this period.

OMPIC – Morocco: Trade Register

The Central Trade Register (RCC, Registre Central de Commerce) is a registry that holds all the information related to traders. This register includes:

Information of a commercial and legal nature (date of creation, management, registered office…)
Commercial information on collaterals or seizures

It is very important to check the entries on the Central Trade Register, before starting a business relationship with a trader (natural or legal person).

The OMPIC is responsible for keeping the Central Trade Register. Extracts can be obtained on request.

Both natural and legal persons can request information from OMPIC :

On the one hand, through copies of entries on traders, which are documents of a public nature (creation and modifying entries,…). One can find the changes of the trade name, the possible transfers of head offices…
On the other hand, through copies of the legal deeds that must be published companies, namely their balance sheets, articles of association and minutes.

The Office provides information on request.

OMPIC – Morocco: Communication of Informaton

In addition to the aforementioned missions, OMPIC has a mission of communication of information to the public. Said information can have one of the following three attributes:

First of all, legal information. In fact, it is possible to obtain from this administration extracts from the trade register (model 7), extracts from the register of industrial and commercial property. In addition, it is possible to obtain:
- Not only extracts from official publications,
- But also copies of deeds, for instance, articles of association, balance sheets and minutes
Next, technical information: technical review of patents;
Finally, commercial and financial information on the creation of companies in Morocco and their financial analysis.

Upsilon Consulting at your service

Upsilon consulting can assist you in all the formalities with the OMPIC. Contact us to:

Obtain a negative certificate for the creation of your company;
Protect your brand or trade name;
Obtain financial and/or legal information on a Moroccan company

To use our services or request a quote : Contact us via the contact form

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OMPIC Morocco: industrial and commercial property