service marks. The periods shall start from the date of filing of the first application made in
one of the countries of the Union. The filing date shall not be included in such periods. If the
last day of the period is a public holiday or not a working day, the period shall be extended
until the first following working day.
8. Any person seeking to take advantage of the priority of an earlier filing made in one
of the countries of the Union shall be obliged to make a written declaration of priority
indicating the date, number and country of origin of such filing. This declaration must be
made on the date on which the application is filed in Morocco.
Within three months following the date of filing of the application in Morocco, the
applicant shall supply the documents substantiating the earlier filing on the conditions to be
determined by regulation.
The same formalities and time periods provided for in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article
shall apply to any natural person or legal entity who/which claims, in a single application filed
in Morocco, several rights of priority.
9. When a right of priority is duly claimed, filings may not be invalidated by
circumstances which have occurred within the time periods provided for in Article 7 of this
Law, in particular by another filing, by the publication or working of the invention patent or
the layout design (topography) for integrated circuits, by the placing on sale of copies of the
industrial design, or by the use of the mark.
10. Acts performed during the period of priority by third parties acting in good faith
shall not give rise to any rights beyond the date of filing of the application filed with priority
in Morocco. Such acts shall not give rise to any actions for damages.
11. Failure to comply with the time periods and formalities provided for in Articles 7
and 8 above shall lead to the loss of the benefit of the right of priority in Morocco.
12. Invention patents, certificates of addition deriving from a main patent, layout
designs (topographies) for integrated circuits, industrial designs and factory marks,
trademarks or service marks, filed with the benefit of the priority, shall enjoy a term of
protection equal to the one laid down for filings made without claims of priority.
13. Invention patents, certificates of addition deriving from a main patent, layout
designs (topographies) for integrated circuits, industrial designs and factory marks,
trademarks or service marks, applied for during the period of priority, shall be entirely
independent from the titles obtained in one of the countries of the Union, for the same
purpose, in terms of both the grounds for invalidity or revocation and the term of protection.
14. All operations to file applications for industrial property titles as well as all actions
affecting such titles shall be entered in the registers kept to this end by the entity responsible
for industrial property. The list and contents of these registers, which said entity shall keep
indefinitely, shall be fixed by regulation.
The entity responsible for industrial property shall keep the originals or reproductions of
the documents in the applications for industrial property titles for a period of ten years after
the related rights have expired.
15. Only the commercial courts shall be competent to hear any case stemming from the
application of this Law, with the exception of the administrative decisions provided for
therein.