The plant biodiversity of Morocco is remarkable, which has allowed for the development of a tradition of using aromatic and medicinal plants for food and preserving health. Among the plants frequently used are the species of the genus Mentha, belonging to the large family of Lamiaceae, which usually bear its name (Mint family).

In this work, we have identified, through a bibliographic search, the species of the genus Mentha commonly used in Morocco. We then used patent analysis, based on specialized databases, to identify the areas of technological innovation conducive to exploiting species of the genus Mentha from Morocco.

We identified eight species of the genus Mentha studied in Morocco (M. gattefossei, M. longifolia, M. pulegium, M. rotundifolia, M. spicata, M. suaveolens, M. viridis, and M. vulgare). We then analyzed the granted patents and patent applications for each species, with a particular focus on the number of patent documents published, the jurisdictions concerned by the filing of patents, and the classifications attributed to the documents identified to deduce the relevant technological fields for the use of the plants studied. A set of 513 patent documents was analyzed. China is the most highly patented jurisdiction (179 patent documents) related to the genus Mentha, followed by the United States (123 patent documents). The International Patent Classification has a specific code for medicinal preparations containing mint (A61K36/534). This code is logically the most attributed to the documents studied.