(b) plant varieties, which are subject to the provisions of Law No. 9/94 on the
Protection of Plant Varieties.
25. Methods of surgical or therapeutic treatment for the human or animal body and
diagnostic methods applied to the human or animal body shall not be considered industrially
applicable inventions for the purposes of Article 22 above. This provision shall not apply to
products, in particular substances or compositions, for the implementation of one of these
methods.
26. An invention shall be considered to be new if it does not form part of industrial
prior art.
Prior art shall consist of everything made available to the public by means of written or
oral description, use or any other way before the date on which the patent application is filed
in Morocco or a patent application is filed abroad, for which priority has been validly claimed.
By way of derogation to the provisions of this Article, disclosure of the invention shall
not be taken into consideration in the following two cases:
(1) if it has occurred in the six months prior to the date of filing of the patent
application;
(2) if it stems from the publication, after the date of filing, of an application for an
earlier patent and if, in either case, it leads directly or indirectly
(a) to a manifest abuse practised on the applicant or his legal predecessor;
(b) to the fact that the invention has been presented for the first time by the applicant or
his legal predecessor at official or officially recognized international exhibitions, organized in
the territory of one of the countries of the International Union for the Protection of Industrial
Property.
However, in the latter case, the fact that the invention has been exhibited must be
declared when the application is filed.
27. An invention shall be considered to involve an inventive step if, for a person skilled
in the art, it is not obvious from the state of the art.
28. An invention shall be considered industrially applicable if it can be made or used in
any kind of industry, including agriculture.
29. Throughout the term of the patent, the patent owner or his successors in title may
make improvements or additions to the invention, which shall be evidenced by certificates of
addition granted subject to the same formalities and conditions as the main patent and
producing the same effects as that patent.
The provisions of this Law relating to invention patents shall apply to certificates of
addition except for the provisions relating to the term of the patent and to the payment of the
prescribed fees for the renewal of said patent, which are provided for in Articles 17(a) and 82
of this Law respectively.
The term of protection for the certificate of addition shall end at the same time as that of
the main patent.
Certificates of addition granted at the request of one of the successors in title shall
benefit all of the others.