A seminar on national & regional approaches to enhancing innovation support and commercialization of IPRs took place in Casablanca, 11-13 June 2014.
The seminar was organised by the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT),  in co-operation with the Moroccan Office for the Industrial and Commercial Property (OMPIC). It was supported by the WIPO and the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) . The seminar was the occasion to present the ARABPAT project and its Internet platforms.

ARABPAT is a regional initiative that directly supports the efforts of the participating national patent Offices in their efforts for developing access to patent information in Arabic speaking countries. Thereby, ARABPAT directly contributes to supporting innovation.

The presentation made by the EPO underlined how the participating Offices (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia), starting from an initiative supported by the Technical Unit of the Agadir Agreement , have cooperated with the EPO and the WIPO over the last two years on the exchange of patent data.

A dedicated Espacenet platform has also been developed with a right to left, Arabic interface. This patent search engine is complemented by the www.arabpat.com website for supporting the promotion of patent information by the participating patent Offices.

The official launch of the ARABPAT platform will be announced in a few weeks, once it has been thoroughly tested.

Figure : discussion session with, from the right to the left : M. Christopher J. KIIGE (ARIPO); M. Harouna Moussa Balla (OAPI); M. Alejandro ROCA COMPANA (OMPI); M. Adil ELMALIKI (OMPIC); M. El Hassane HZAINE (CIDC), M. Pascal PHLIX (OEB)