Morocco: WIPO Seminar

In February 2000, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held an Arab Regional Seminar in Casablanca, Morocco, on the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The seminar was conducted in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Morocco and was attended by a number of international experts who spoke on different issues relating to the international protection of inventions.

Mrs Fatima Daboussi. Principal Administrative in Charge of the program, Bureau of Co-operation for Development in Arab countries, lectured on :

• The activities of the WIPO in matters of cooperation for development in Arab countries
• The advantages of joining the PCT for developing countries

Mr Aziz Bouazzaoui, Director of the Morocco Patent and Trademark Office, spoke about the development, functions and services of the Morocco Trademark & Patent Office, whilst Mrs Francois Vianés, Section of developing countries (PCT), discussed the basic aspects of the PCT and gave an introduction to the system.

Miss Isabell Boutillon, Assistant Manager and Chief, PCT Law Section and promotion activities (WIPO), gave a general presentation on :

• The international phase of international filings, international searches, international publications and international preliminary examination.
• The implications of national phase.
• The importance of the technical information contained in the documents of the PCT patent to search and development, industry and commerce.

Mr. Michel Hidalgo Llemas, Officer at the Spanish Trademark and Patent Office discussed the advantages of joining the PCT and the Spanish experience.

Mrs Marie-Louise Gillard, Industrial Property Consultant, discussed the users point of view on the PCT.

Registrars and heads of Trademarks Department from Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine,Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and from Yemen attended the seminar.

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