Reprography in the Moroccan press: a right that has remained invisible for too long
Imagine a business article published by a journalist in Casablanca. The next morning, it is converted into a PDF, circulated to several hundred executives, saved on the intranet of a bank and printed for an internal meeting. The journalist receives no notice and, of course, not one dirham. This is not an unusual scenario. It is one of the everyday realities behind the debate over reprography remuneration in the Moroccan press.
In legal terms, reprography traditionally means the facsimile reproduction of a written or graphic work, particularly by photocopying. Modern licensing systems may also cover certain equivalent digital uses: scanning, storing copies in a documentary database, distributing PDF press reviews or placing copied articles on a company intranet. Attention, however: not every digital link or ordinary act of sharing is necessarily a reprographic reproduction. Sending a hyperlink to the publisher's original page is legally different from copying the full article into an internal newsletter.
Morocco has a copyright framework capable of protecting journalistic writing. The cornerstone is Law No. 2-00 on Copyright and Related Rights, promulgated by Dahir No. 1-00-20 of 9 kaada 1420, corresponding to 15 February 2000, and subsequently amended, notably by Law No. 34-05. The institutional system has also evolved with Law No. 25-19 concerning the Moroccan Copyright and Related Rights Office.
Yet thousands of journalists, columnists, photographers and other press contributors have never declared their works to a collective management body. Some do not know that a remuneration mechanism exists. Others assume that every right belongs automatically to their newspaper. Many journalists working in Fès, Oujda, Agadir, Tangier or for Amazigh-language publications face an additional practical problem: the relevant information and administrative services have historically been concentrated in Rabat.
The announcement reported by Hespress concerning the opening of registration for reprography rights therefore revived a legitimate question: how can a Moroccan journalist actually obtain payment when articles are reproduced? The answer requires more nuance than a slogan. Registration is essential, but eligibility, ownership, licensing, statutory exceptions and the BMDAV distribution rules must all be examined.
What reprography means in practice for a journalist
For a press author, the most obvious example is a photocopy of a newspaper page. Reprography may also include the scanning of an article, the creation of a corporate press review, the reproduction of extracts in course materials and, where the applicable licence covers such uses, the internal circulation of a PDF copy.
The legal starting point is the broad concept of reproduction. A protected work is reproduced when it is fixed or copied in a manner that permits it to be communicated or copied again. The technical process is not decisive. Paper, scanner, server and internal database may all be relevant.
But there are boundaries. A short quotation used for criticism or news reporting may fall within a statutory exception if the conditions are satisfied. A private copy may also receive different treatment from systematic copying by a company. Likewise, facts and raw information are not monopolised by copyright. The journalist owns the original expression, structure and wording, not the underlying fact that, for example, Bank Al-Maghrib changed its key interest rate.
Why a registration campaign can change the position
Collective remuneration cannot be distributed fairly if authors remain unidentified. An organisation collecting a global licence fee needs reliable data: the author's identity, the works concerned, the publication, the dates and, where relevant, evidence of circulation or copying.
An enrolment campaign is therefore not a minor administrative announcement. It can determine who appears in a distribution cycle and who remains outside it. Still, journalists should rely on the official BMDAV website and the actual call for applications for dates, forms and eligibility requirements. A press report is a useful alert, but it does not replace the binding terms of the official notice.
The Moroccan legal framework for press reproduction rights
Law No. 2-00 and the protection of journalistic works
Article 3 of Law No. 2-00 protects original literary and artistic works, including written works such as books, brochures and other writings. An original newspaper investigation, editorial, analysis, interview or column can therefore qualify as a protected literary work. Protection arises from creation; it is not dependent on registration, deposit or possession of a national press card.
Practical consequence of Article 3: a journalistic text is protected when its selection, structure and expression bear the author's intellectual contribution. Copyright does not arise merely because the text was printed in a newspaper, nor does it disappear because it was published only online.
Article 6 of Law No. 2-00 must also be kept in view. Copyright does not protect ideas, procedures, methods of operation, mathematical concepts or mere news of the day and miscellaneous facts having the character of simple press information. This distinction is fundamental. A journalist cannot prevent others from reporting the same event, but can object to the copying of the original wording, narrative sequence, analysis or distinctive presentation.
The author's moral rights are addressed by Article 9. They include, in substance, the right to claim authorship and to object to certain alterations prejudicial to the author's honour or reputation. These rights remain attached to the natural person who created the article. The fact that a journalist is employed does not permit the publisher to remove the byline or distort the work without any legal limit.
Article 10 deals with the author's economic rights, including the exclusive right to authorise reproduction. Contrary to a recurring error, Article 43 should not be presented as the general source of the journalist's reproduction right; Article 10 is the central provision for the author's exclusive economic rights in the structure of Law No. 2-00.
The basic rule is straightforward: unless a statutory exception, contractual transfer or collective licence applies, reproduction of a protected article requires the author or right holder's authorisation.
Law No. 2-00 also contains limitations and exceptions for uses such as quotation, teaching, libraries, archives and reporting of current events. Their conditions must be interpreted carefully. A company cannot convert an exception intended for limited quotation into a permanent licence to circulate full commercial press reviews. Conversely, an author should not claim infringement merely because a newspaper quoted two properly attributed sentences for genuine commentary.
Employee-created articles and Article 31
One of the most common misunderstandings concerns Article 31 of Law No. 2-00, which governs works created under an employment contract. The law does not simply erase the journalist's authorship. In the absence of contrary contractual provisions, the economic rights may be deemed transferred to the employer to the extent justified by the employer's customary activities at the time the work was created.
The words to the extent justified matter. A newspaper clearly needs the rights required to publish, archive and market the issue for which the journalist was hired. It does not automatically follow that every future exploitation, every third-party database licence and every form of reprographic remuneration belongs exclusively to the employer. The employment contract, collective agreement, newsroom practice, purpose of the commission and BMDAV distribution rules must be read together.
In consultation, this is where many journalists make a costly mistake. They look only at the label “employee” or “freelancer”. The better approach is to examine the actual documentation: the Moroccan journalist's employment contract, intellectual property clauses, payslips, commissioning emails and any collective arrangement negotiated for the press sector.
Published Moroccan case law dealing specifically with the division of reprography remuneration between journalists and press companies remains relatively limited and difficult to access systematically. It would therefore be unsafe to invent a Casablanca Commercial Court precedent or to claim that the Court of Cassation has settled every aspect of the issue. Where a dispute arises, the precise contract and the current BMDAV allocation regulations will be decisive evidence.
International protection: Berne and TRIPS
Morocco is a party to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. The Convention supports automatic protection, national treatment and minimum copyright standards. Article 9 of the Berne Convention recognises the exclusive right of reproduction while permitting carefully limited exceptions under the well-known three-step test.
Morocco is also bound by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS, through its membership of the World Trade Organization. These instruments reinforce the domestic framework but do not replace the practical need to identify right holders, issue licences and distribute collected revenue.
Copyright is not the same as related rights
A journalist's right in an original article is an author's right. Related rights protect different contributions, notably those of performers, phonogram producers and broadcasting organisations. A journalist presenting or performing material in an audiovisual production may, depending on the facts, hold additional rights, but ordinary reprography remuneration for an article rests primarily on copyright.
The distinction matters because the conditions, duration and beneficiaries are not identical. Referring vaguely to “neighbouring rights for journalists” can obscure the legal basis of the claim. For written journalism, begin with authorship and the reproduction right.
The BMDAV: the institution responsible for collective rights management
From the BMDA to the BMDAV
The former Moroccan Copyright Office, commonly known by the French acronym BMDA, was historically established under the legal framework associated with Dahir-Law No. 1-70-157. The institutional structure was later modernised through Law No. 25-19, which created and organised the Bureau Marocain du Droit d'Auteur et des Droits Voisins, or BMDAV, as the Moroccan body responsible for copyright and related-rights management.
The BMDAV operates under the public authorities responsible for culture and communication. Its tasks include the management of rights entrusted to it, the collection of royalties, the representation of right holders and the distribution of sums according to applicable regulations and allocation keys.
Journalists should not confuse the BMDAV with the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property, or OMPIC. OMPIC handles industrial property matters such as trademarks and patents. Copyright in an article falls within the BMDAV environment, not trademark registration at OMPIC.
How collective reprography licensing works
Individual negotiation is unrealistic when thousands of articles are copied by hundreds of institutions. Collective management responds to that problem. A university, administration, documentation centre, bank or consultancy firm may obtain a licence covering defined copying practices. It pays a global fee rather than contacting each journalist every time an employee photocopies a page.
The collecting organisation then identifies the categories of copied works and eligible right holders. Depending on the scheme, distribution may rely on declarations, copying surveys, publication data, sampling, circulation indicators or a combination of these elements. Administrative costs are deducted under the applicable rules, and the distributable balance is allocated to authors and, where appropriate, publishers.
This is why the phrase “payment every time an article is copied” can be misleading. The journalist does not normally receive a separate bank transfer for each photocopy. The remuneration is collected globally and distributed periodically through a collective mechanism.
Transparency is essential. Journalists are entitled to ask what revenue was collected, which users paid, what management costs were deducted, how author and publisher shares were calculated, and how objections may be filed. Such questions do not undermine collective management. They make it credible.
Who may register?
Potential beneficiaries include staff journalists, freelance journalists, columnists, regional correspondents, photographers and qualifying online press authors. A national press card may be requested by a specific BMDAV campaign as evidence of professional status, but copyright itself does not depend on possession of that card. An independent author without a press card may still own copyright, even if a particular allocation category imposes additional administrative requirements.
Bloggers and newsletter authors require special care. Their texts can be protected under Article 3 if original, but eligibility for a press-specific distribution scheme depends on its regulations. Copyright protection and admission to a particular BMDAV payment cycle are related questions, not identical ones.
Employees, freelancers and online journalists
The employed print journalist
An employed journalist remains the author and retains moral rights. Economic rights may be contractually assigned or deemed transferred under Article 31 to the extent justified by the employer's normal activity. The answer to who receives reprography revenue may therefore depend on the contract and the allocation rules that divide remuneration between authors and publishers.
A clause transferring “all rights, for all territories and all media” should not be accepted without examination. Its scope, duration, contemplated uses and compliance with Moroccan copyright principles must be assessed. A specialist lawyer can determine whether the clause covers collective reprography payments or only the newspaper's own publication and archive.
The freelancer or contributor
A freelancer is often in a stronger ownership position because no employment-based transfer applies. Nevertheless, the invoice, commissioning agreement or contributor terms may contain an express assignment or exclusive licence. The absence of a permanent salary does not automatically mean that no rights were transferred.
Freelancers should retain the commission, submitted manuscript, invoice, payment record and published version. If the same author writes for several outlets, each article should be declared separately with the title, publication, date, URL, issue number and ISSN where available.
Regional correspondents and digital newsrooms
A correspondent in Oujda or Laâyoune has the same basic copyright protection as a journalist based in Rabat. The language of publication is also irrelevant: Arabic, Amazigh, French, Spanish and English works can all qualify. What matters is originality and ownership.
Online-only articles receive protection on the same legal foundation as print articles. Copying a complete web investigation into a paid monitoring report, corporate newsletter or restricted intranet may engage the reproduction right. A mere link that sends the reader to the original source normally presents a different legal analysis.
What is not protected?
Raw facts, simple news items, ideas, official texts and purely mechanical announcements are not protected in the same way as original expression. Agency copy also requires caution. The journalist may not own a dispatch supplied by an agency, while the agency itself may hold rights in the text or database.
Titles and short phrases may be too brief or commonplace to demonstrate originality, although a highly distinctive title can sometimes receive protection. The safest claim concerns the article's original wording, organisation, commentary, interviews and analysis.
How much reprography remuneration can a Moroccan journalist expect?
No responsible lawyer can promise a fixed amount without seeing the current distribution rules and the author's repertoire. Moroccan payments have generally been perceived as modest compared with mature European reprography systems, but even a modest payment remains a legal revenue stream rather than a favour.
The amount may depend on the pool collected, the category of works, the number of eligible declarations, evidence of copying, publication reach and the allocation between authors and publishers. A journalist with twenty years of archived investigations may have a different repertoire from a new reporter with twelve published pieces. Quantity alone is not necessarily decisive if the system uses sampling or verified copying data.
Journalists should request the current distribution regulation before relying on assumptions about circulation, audience or seniority. These factors are plausible allocation tools, but they should not be presented as established BMDAV criteria unless the applicable document expressly confirms them.
Reciprocity agreements with foreign collective management organisations can theoretically allow revenue collected abroad to reach Moroccan right holders. Before citing the French CFC, Belgium's Reprobel or another foreign body as an active partner, the journalist should ask the BMDAV to confirm that a current agreement covers reprographic press rights and the relevant repertoire. Past cooperation does not prove that a particular 2026 distribution is covered.
How to apply to the BMDAV for reprography rights
Step 1: build a reliable authorship file
Start before the application window closes. A sensible file ordinarily includes a completed form, a copy of the Moroccan national identity card, bank details, contact information and documents establishing professional or author status. If the official call requires a current national press card, include it. Do not assume, however, that a press card is universally required for every author category.
Prepare a spreadsheet of works. For each article, record the exact title, publication name, publication date, page or issue number, language, URL, ISSN if available and the nature of the contribution. Save a PDF or scan showing the byline. For online articles, retain a dated capture as pages can disappear or be rewritten.
Step 2: check the current official notice
Consult the BMDAV's official portal for the current form, deadline, submission method and contact details. Administrative addresses, platforms and required documents can change. For that reason, relying on an old Facebook post or a newspaper article from a previous registration cycle is risky.
If electronic filing is open, save the confirmation email and application number. If the file is deposited physically in Rabat, request a stamped receipt identifying every document submitted. Journalists outside the capital should ask whether registered post, an authorised representative or online filing is accepted.
No membership fee or processing cost should be quoted unless it appears in the official call or tariff. If a payment is requested, obtain a formal receipt and verify the legal basis. The same caution applies to promised processing times: administrative review may take weeks or months depending on the cycle, but the BMDAV should confirm the applicable timetable.
Step 3: declare the full repertoire
Do not declare only recent front-page articles. Include eligible older works if the call and distribution period permit it, as well as freelance pieces, regional editions and online publications. Avoid duplicate declarations of syndicated material unless you can identify the rights retained in each version.
After registration, update the repertoire regularly. Keep correspondence with the BMDAV, statements of account, payment notices and tax documentation. If a work is rejected, ask for the reason in writing and use any internal review procedure within the announced deadline.
Common mistakes
- Submitting a list of publications without copies or URLs proving authorship.
- Assuming that a press card alone proves ownership of every article.
- Ignoring contractual assignments signed with a newspaper or content platform.
- Confusing reprography with broadcasting, public performance or audiovisual related rights.
- Missing the deadline because registration is expected to reopen immediately.
- Failing to keep a stamped receipt or electronic confirmation.
The National Union of the Moroccan Press may also provide practical information or collective support. A union can help explain the campaign, but only the BMDAV can confirm admission and allocation under its official rules.
What to do when an article is copied without authorisation
First determine whether there is actually an infringement
Finding a copy does not automatically prove infringement. Check whether the user holds a BMDAV or publisher licence, whether the use is covered by a contractual authorisation, and whether a statutory exception applies. Also determine who owns the relevant economic right.
If a consultancy sells a press review containing complete articles without an apparent licence, the risk of infringement is serious. If a lecturer quotes two paragraphs with attribution for analysis, the position is different. Context, quantity, purpose and effect on the normal exploitation of the work all matter.
Preserve evidence immediately
For paper copies, keep the original document and record where and when it was obtained. For digital copying, save the URL, full-page screenshots, source code where useful, downloaded PDF, email headers and access details. A screenshot produced by the claimant is useful but can be challenged.
A Moroccan commissaire de justice can prepare a formal report of online or physical facts. For restricted intranets, evidence must be collected lawfully; an author should not obtain unauthorised access merely to prove copying. In technical cases, a court-appointed expert may later examine servers or usage records.
Send a reasoned formal notice
A formal notice should identify the work, establish authorship or ownership, describe the copying, request disclosure of the applicable licence and set a reasonable deadline for response. It may demand cessation, preservation of evidence, an account of copies and compensation. Send it through a method proving delivery, commonly registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt or service by a commissaire de justice.
The amount claimed should be defensible. Compensation may reflect lost licence fees, unlawful profits where legally relevant, reputational harm and procedural costs, but a claimant should not invent a punitive figure with no supporting calculation.
Civil, commercial and criminal routes
The competent court depends on the parties and legal basis. A dispute between commercial entities may fall within the commercial court's jurisdiction, while other copyright claims may belong before a court of first instance. It is therefore inaccurate to say that every journalist must automatically sue in the Commercial Court of Casablanca.
Law No. 2-00 provides civil remedies and criminal sanctions for infringement, particularly in its enforcement provisions, including Articles 62 to 65 as amended. Depending on the violation, remedies may include cessation, damages, seizure, confiscation and criminal penalties. Because amendments have changed the enforcement architecture and penalty amounts, practitioners should use the current consolidated text rather than an original 2000 copy.
A complaint may be submitted to the competent public prosecutor when the facts disclose a criminal offence. Investigations may involve the judicial police, including specialised services where organised or digital infringement is suspected. The BMDAV may also be contacted to verify licences and explore an administrative or negotiated resolution.
Do not rely on the frequently repeated assertion that every criminal copyright action has a three-year limitation period. Under Article 5 of the Moroccan Code of Criminal Procedure, limitation depends on the classification of the offence; the ordinary limitation period for a misdemeanour is generally four years under the current framework, subject to interruption, suspension and any special rule. For civil claims, the applicable period can vary according to whether the action is tortious, contractual or commercial. Article 106 of the Dahir of Obligations and Contracts, for example, sets specific time limits for tort liability based on knowledge and the date of the act. Obtain advice promptly rather than testing the outer limit.
For a serious dispute, consult an intellectual property lawyer in Casablanca, an experienced press lawyer in Rabat or counsel before the locally competent court. Journalists in the north or south may likewise seek an intellectual property lawyer in Tangier or an author's rights lawyer in Marrakech.
The weaknesses of Morocco's reprography system
The legal principle is stronger than its practical implementation. The first weakness is low registration. An allocation system cannot accurately remunerate authors who have never supplied their identity or repertoire. The second is the historic lack of accessible information about collection totals, deductions, allocation keys and rejected declarations.
The third challenge is digital use. Professional newsletters, messaging groups, media-monitoring platforms and corporate intranets can circulate thousands of copied articles with little visibility. Traditional photocopy surveys do not necessarily capture this activity. Morocco needs licensing models and transparent measurement tools adapted to digital workplaces, while respecting personal data and business confidentiality.
European systems offer useful comparisons but should not be copied mechanically. Directive (EU) 2019/790 created, among other measures, a press publishers' right for certain online uses by information society service providers. That neighbouring right is distinct from the journalist's copyright and from classic reprography. Morocco may draw lessons from it, but any comparable right must be established by Moroccan legislation rather than assumed to exist.
Press unions, publishers and authors should seek clear answers on three points: which uses are licensed, how authors and publishers share revenue, and how foreign and digital reproductions are measured. Collective negotiation is especially important for freelancers and regional journalists who have little individual bargaining power.
Do not leave your reproduction rights dormant
Every original investigation, analysis or interview is potentially a protected work under Moroccan law. Registration does not create that copyright, but it can make collective remuneration possible. The practical route is clear: archive the work, examine the contract, follow the official BMDAV notice, submit a complete declaration and retain proof of filing.
At the same time, avoid exaggerated claims. Not every mention is an infringement, not every journalist owns all economic rights, and no reliable payment can be promised without the distribution rules. A serious approach combines legal protection with documentary discipline.
If your articles have been systematically copied, if a publisher claims all remuneration, or if your application has been rejected, obtain personalised advice from a lawyer admitted to a Moroccan bar. This article provides general legal information only. It does not replace an assessment of your contract, evidence and procedural deadlines.
