United Arab Emirates (AE)
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News Archive (32)Feb 11, 2024 (Newsletter Issue 2/24) Launch of New IP EcosystemThe Ministry of Economy of the United Arab Emirates launched a new Intellectual Property Ecosystem on February 7, 2024. It will help inventors and creators protect their concepts, attract more foreign direct investment to the country, and enhance the country's transition into a knowledge and innovation economy and develop an incubating national environment for Intellectual Property.
The newly launched IP system is aligned with the UAE's vision to become a global hub for innovation and creativity. The IP Ecosystem program is anchored by 11 initiatives, covering key economic and creative sectors of the UAE, including support for new technologies and student awareness programs.
Pillars of the new IP system
- The system prioritises comprehensive protection for all forms of intellectual property, including trademarks, patents, and copyrights.
- It aims to minimise infringement and empower innovators to secure their rights effectively.
- Streamlined mechanisms for resolving IP disputes will be established.
- User-friendly platforms and AI-powered solutions will facilitate registration and access to information.
For more details click here.
Source: www.agip.com, www.gulfbusiness.com Nov 23, 2023 (Newsletter Issue 10/23)
Upcoming Change in Official Fees
The UAE Cabinet of Ministers has issued Cabinet Resolution No. (112) of 2023, addressing services provided by the Ministry of Economy, with a focus on patents, industrial designs, and utility models.
This resolution entails the reinstatement of official fees for all zero-rated services affected by the previous Cabinet Resolution No. (20) of 2020. The revised fee structure will affect various services, including annuities, publications, assignments, amendments, restorations, and more.
Additionally, new services have been introduced, such as expedited examination, payment based on the number of claims, increase in the number of claims, and re-examination with minimal errors.
Moreover, a revised fee schedule, featuring decreased charges, has been implemented for academic entities.
The Cabinet issued this resolution on November 13, 2023, and it will take effect on January 13, 2024, within 60 days of its publication in the official gazette.
Source: www.agip.com
Aug 25, 2022 (Newsletter Issue 12/22)Executive Regulation of New Trademark Law in ForceOn 15 June 2022, Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. (57) of 2022 on the Executive Regulations of Federal Law No. (36) of 2021 on the new Trademark Law (New Law) was published in the Official Gazette No. 729/52. The Executive Regulation (Regulation) includes 27 Articles and replaces all previous or conflicting legal provisions. It entered into force on 16 June 2022.
Some amendments are the following:
Multi-class application: Multi-class applications can now be filed.
Power of Attorney (PoA): Original legalized PoA (translated into Arabic) is required when filing a trademark application. According to current practice, the simply signed POA may be used if the legalized and certified PoA is submitted within 30 days after filing the application.
Non-traditional trademarks: They can now be registered such as 3D trademarks, single color, holograms, sound, and smell. MP3 files and musical notes shall be submitted for voice marks, and chemical formula illustrations are required for smell marks.
Appeals: The time limit for appealing the Trademark Office's decision on opposition to the Trademark Committee was extended from 15 to 30 days.
Publication in Official Gazette: The publication of the accepted trademark application, renewal and cancellation shall take place in the Official Gazette of the Ministry.
Grace Period for trademark renewals: The renewal grace period for trademarks is extended from 3 to 6 months after expiration.
Cancellation Action: Cancellation action of a trademark shall be filed with the Trademark Committee of the Ministry of Economy, as opposed to the courts. The Ministry is the competent authority for the cancellation requests. A time frame of 90 days is specified for the issuance of a decision by the Ministry of Trademarks from the date of filing the complaint.
Trademark License: Filing a trademark license is possible for any person or entity. The recordal of a license is not any more required. However, the Regulation stipulates in Article 18 (1) some conditions for the license agreement which shall be executed in writing and duly notarized, legalized and translated into Arabic in case it is executed in another language.
Geographical Indications (Gis): GIs can now be registered. GIs enjoy protection under the New Law as long as they are protected in the country of origin. If GIs lead to confusion with a trademark application or with a trademark that has been used in good faith in the country, they cannot be registered.
Customs seizures: The New Law follows the GCC Trademark Law and regulates customs seizures. Article 24 of the Regulation sets out the procedures to be initiated by the trademark owner to stop the customs release of counterfeit or forged goods or goods bearing a similar mark to his registered trademark.
International Registrations: The Madrid Protocol's executive regulations and amendments shall apply to international registration applications submitted in accordance with the Madrid protocol regarding international Trademark registration.
For more information, please see here and here.Source: www.moec.gov.ae; www.utmps.com Mar 31, 2022 (Newsletter Issue 4/22)
Publication of Trademark Related Matters in Official Gazette Only
The Trademark Office announced that the publication of trademark related matters, including registration, renewal, recordal, and amendments will henceforth be published only in the Official Gazette, eliminating local publication procedures in local newspapers.
This new practice has been applicable in the UAE starting from March 2022.
Source: www.agip.com
Feb 10, 2022 (Newsletter Issue 2/22)
Accession to Nice Agreement
On January 18, 2022, the Government of the United Arab Emirates joined the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks.
The Agreement will enter into force, with respect to the United Arab Emirates, on April 18, 2022.
Source: www.wipo.int
Jan 27, 2022 (Newsletter Issue 1/22)Notification on Licence Recordal and Division/Merger of International RegistrationsOn January 6, 2022, the Office of the United Arab Emirates has notified WIPO in accordance with Rules 20bis(6)(b), 27bis(6) and 27ter(2)(b) of the Regulations under the Madrid Protocol.
As a result:
- a license shall, in order to have effect in that Contracting Party, be recorded in the Register of the Office of the United Arab Emirates;
- that Office of UAE will not present to the International Bureau of WIPO requests for the division of an international registration under Rule 27bis(1) nor requests for the merger of international registrations resulting from division under Rule 27ter(2)(a).
For further information, please refer to Information Notice No. 1/2022 hereSource: www.wipo.int Dec 16, 2021 (Newsletter Issue 18/21)Extensive Legislative Reform - New Trademark Law IssuedThe United Arab Emirates (UAE) is undergoing a major legislative reform. New draft laws covering more than 40 laws have been introduced in the UAE, including the Trademark Law.
The UAE has issued a new Federal Trademarks Law No. 36 of 2021 (New Law), which will come into effect on January 2, 2022. The New Law will completely replace Federal Law No. 37 of 1992.
Some of the changes are as follows:
- Non-traditional trademarks such as 3D trademarks, single colour, holograms, sound and smell can be registered.
- Geographical indications can be registered.
- Penalties for trademark infringement have been strengthened.
- A Complaints Committee has been established to hear all objections to decisions issued by the Trademarks Office with respect to applications, oppositions, and cancellations.
- All decisions issued by the Complaints Committee can be appealed before the Federal Court of Appeal instead of the Court of First Instance.
- The New Law regulates the rights of a prior user of a trademark to cancel a trademark.
- The Ministry of Economic Affairs now receives requests for cancellation of trademarks.
- Trademarks registered in bad faith can be excluded, which is in line with the Paris Convention.
- Trademark licences no longer have to be registered with the Ministry under the New Law.
The implementing regulations provide for detailed procedures. They have yet to be defined and issued.
More information can be seen hereSource: www.tamimi.com Nov 18, 2021 (Newsletter Issue 16/21)
Changes to Patent and Designs Law
The Federal Law No. 11 of 2021 on the Regulation and Protection of Industrial Property Rights comes into force on November 30, 2021, and introduces numerous amendments to the patent, utility model and design regimes in the UAE.
The most important changes include the following:
- A novelty grace period for disclosures of information by the inventor or others obtaining information directly from the inventor(twelve months from the filing date for patents, utility models and designs);
- Substantive examination (novelty examination) for designs;
- Procedure to expedite the examination of patents and utility models
- Provisions for filing divisional applications for patents and utility models;
- Extension of term of design protection from 10 years to 20 years;
- Executive Regulations shall define requirements for procedures for examination, publication, annuities, restoration, grievances, etc.;
- Grievance and Objections Committee is established to hear requests for re-examination (by a third party) and grievances relating to registration of a patent, utility model, and design. Infringement actions appear to be referred directly to court;
- UAE Patent Office will act as receiving office for international applications (PCT Applications) in accordance with the procedures to be set out in the Executive Regulations;
- Important changes in the rights of employee inventors and employers.
The accompanying Executive Regulations shall provide further details and guidance on how many of these changes will be implemented.
Source: www.rouse.com
Oct 20, 2021 (Newsletter Issue 15/21)Accession to Madrid ProtocolOn September 28, 2021, the Government of the United Arab Emirates deposited with WIPO its instrument of accession to the Madrid Protocol, containing:
- the declaration extending the refusal period to 18 months and making it possible to notify refusals based on opposition after the expiry of that period (Article 5(2)(b) and (c) of the Madrid Protocol);
- the declaration indicating that the United Arab Emirates wish to receive an individual fee when they are designated in an international application, in a subsequent designation and in respect of the renewal of an international registration (Article 8(7)(a) of the Madrid Protocol). The amount of the individual fees shall be announced in a separate Information notice.
The Madrid Protocol enters into force, with respect to the United Arab Emirates, on December 28, 2021.
For further information, please refer to Information Notice No. 15/2021.Source: www.wipo.int May 20, 2021 (Newsletter Issue 10/21)Power of Attorney Deadline ExtendedOn April 11, 2021, the UAE Trademark Office announced that the deadline for filing the Power of Attorney (PoA) for new trademark applications has been extended to 30 days from the filing date. Previously, the PoA only had to be filed together with the application form.
The new grace period is not applicable to oppositions and appeals. Thus, for these procedures, the PoA must be filed together with the application.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Apr 30, 2020 (Newsletter Issue 6/20)Official Trademark Fees ReducedPursuant to Cabinet Departmental Decision 20/2020 of March 31, 2020 concerning services provided by the Ministry of Economy, the United Arab Emirates has announced a range of discounts on existing fees for services.
The decision was published in the Official Gazette and entered into force on April 5, 2020. The decision is intended to support both domestic and foreign companies affected by the economic impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
The official fee for filing a trademark application is now AED 750 in one class instead of AED 1,000. The fee for publication in the Trademark Gazette after acceptance has been reduced from AED 1,000 to AED 750. The registration fee for one mark or a series of marks in one class is AED 5,000 instead of AED 6,700.
The detailed reduced fees can be accessed here as issued by the Cabinet.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Aug 07, 2019 (Newsletter Issue 10/19)Official Fees ReductionThe Trademark Office of United Arab Emirates has reduced the official fees for trademark registration and renewal with immediate effect and will be applied on new applications and retroactively on the pending applications.
In light of the above the trademark registration fees have been reduced from AED 10,000 to AED 6,700 with no change for filing and publication fees. Accordingly, the total official fees from filing up to registration for one trademark in one class will now be AED 8,700, rather than AED 12,000.
For renewals the total fees (including the renewal filing and publication fees) have been reduced from AED 12,000 to AED 8,700.
Additional to that, the official fees of AED 5,000 for filing an appeal against a rejection decision have been waived.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Jul 24, 2018 (Newsletter Issue 13/18)Online Trademark Renewal System LaunchedThe UAE Trademark Office (TMO) has now completed the preparation of electronic trademark renewal services as part of its ongoing efforts to gradually switch to online services. It is now possible to file renewal applications, which will be published in the next issue of the Gazette, for which clips can be uploaded together with the publication of the local Gazette to issue the electronic renewal certificate.
It was also clarified that for all renewal applications filed as of December 6, 2015, it is possible to upload the publication of local newspapers and issue the electronic renewal certificate.
These e-services replace previous procedures that required the submission of documents and applications in person.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar May 08, 2018 (Newsletter Issue 9/18)Online Services EnhancedThe Trademark Office (TMO) of UAE launched an electronic searching system with respect to trademarks filed or registered in the UAE on April 19, 2018. The official fees to be paid to conduct the searches remain the same; however, the search request can be made online only by agents. These e-services, among others provided by the TMO, replace previous procedures that required the submission of documents and applications in person.
Also, the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) has launched an online gateway for the registration of registered trademarks. The online portal supports DED in routine checks for any counterfeit products and informs the trademark owners/agents about the detected infringements. However, brand owners are still obliged to file official complaints with the DED in order to take action against any infringing parties.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Jan 16, 2018 (Newsletter Issue 1/18)New VAT Rate AppliedAs of January 1, 2018, Value Added Tax (VAT) of 5% has been applied in the United Arab Emirates in relation of goods and services.
Professional (attorney) charges of all new intellectual property IP cases and pending cases to be completed on or after January 1, 2018, will be bound to the new VAT rate.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Dec 05, 2017 (Newsletter Issue 21/17)Issuance of Trademark Registrations ElectronicallyThe UAE Trademark Office has sent out a circular in which it informs local representatives that from November 27, 2017, the official registration fees will be charged electronically and thus the trademark registration certificate will only be issued in electronic form.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Nov 22, 2017 (Newsletter Issue 20/17)Value Added Tax Rate Implemented SoonThe United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are set to implement VAT (Value Added Tax) in their jurisdictions. The VAT will apply to goods and services at the standard rate of five percent, with some limited exceptions on basic food items, healthcare, and education.
All IP matters in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia filed as on January 1, 2018, will be subject to VAT, as well as all pending stages for the previous work.
The VAT Law is based on the common principles agreed by all Gulf Cooperation Council countries as outlined in the GCC VAT framework agreement. Each member state of the GCC (which also includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar) is expected to establish their own separate national legislation concerning the VAT and as such the detailed compliance requirements and set of rules.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Sep 13, 2016 (Newsletter Issue 16/16)New IP Protection e-Service ImplementedThe Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) launched a new electronic system for recording trademarks and processing complaints against importers and distributors of suspected counterfeits.
The updated e-service replaces the previous procedure that required complaints to be submitted in person, which is expected to minimize paper work and facilitate processing of complaints and notifications relating to proactive inspections conducted by the DED. The portal is accessible via the website www.consumerrights.ae.
Source: www.sabaip.com Mar 02, 2016 (Newsletter Issue 4/16)More IPR Courts to be EstablishedThe authorities in UAE will be setting-up dedicated courts to handle intellectual property rights disputes and small claims, as per Ministerial Resolution No. 137 for 2016.
The judicial inspection department will provide specialised training to judges to assist them understand the procedures and technicalities associated with IPR cases. This will result in effectively and efficiently resolving disputes.
An intellectual property court has already been set up at the Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance. Small claims courts, which were earlier created at the Fujairah Court of First Instance, will be established at courts across the country.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Mar 02, 2016 (Newsletter Issue 4/16)Backlog of Design ApplicationsThe backlog of industrial design applications filed between 2011 and 2013 have finally been brought under consideration of the Ministry of Economy. A circular letter has been issued on February 8, 2016, stating that the department will commence to finalize the backlog of industrial design applications soon.
Accordingly it should be noted that the publication fees should be paid within 60 days from circular or the application will be deemed abandoned.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Dec 08, 2015 (Newsletter Issue 19/15)Online Trademark Filing/Renewal Services The Ministry of Economy at the United Arab Emirates announced the launch of an online trademark filing and renewal service by the Department of Trademarks as of December 6, 2015.
The service will assist local agents in UAE in filing new trademarks and renew their applications online.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar
May 13, 2015 (Newsletter Issue 7/15)Drastic Official Fees IncreaseThe Cabinet Ministers of UAE has announced that the official fees for a wide range of services provided by the Ministry of Economy including trademarks, patents, copyrights and designs will be increased by virtue of Decision No. 9 of 2015. The said decision will be effective as from May 29, 2015.
The new official fee for filing a trademark application will be 1,000 AED/273 USD (instead of 500 AED/137 USD) in one class. The new publication fee in the Trademark Journal after acceptance will be 1,000 AED/273 USD (instead of 500 AED/137 USD). The new registration fee of a mark or a series of marks in one class will be 10,000 AED/2,725 USD (instead of 5,000 AED/1363 USD). The publication fee in the two local newspapers remains the same.
There is uncertainty about whether this fee increase will be applied retroactively for pending applications.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar and Karawani Law Firm, United Arab Emirates Apr 15, 2015 (Newsletter Issue 6/15)Update on Opposition ProceedingsThe Head of the Trademarks Department at the Ministry of Economy in the UAE issued a Decree No. 2 for the year 2015 on February 22, 2015, stating the following:
- IP agents should inform the Trademarks Registry of any updates regarding oppositions; e.g. lack of response, waiver of the opposition, settlement, etc. so they can do what is necessary;
- Samples of the publication should accompany the opposition in order to calculate the opposition period;
- The fees of the hearing of AED250 should be settled in a timely manner;
- All accompanying documents should have certified translation locally;
- After the hearing, a decision will be made immediately;
- All attendees of hearing sessions should be fully acquainted with Arabic language reading and writing;
- The hearing time will be no more than 30 minutes, after which the session will be called off;
- If more documents are requested by the Opposition Committee, the agent should provide the same within three (3) days;
Though all the items mentioned are not new as they constitute the normal and ordinary process of the trademarks oppositions in UAE; however the Trademarks Registrar is impressing on the implementation of all above so as to accelerate the settlement of all pending oppositions .
Any interested party may object the registration of a trademark, and submit the written opposition to the Trademarks Registry, or send it to the Ministry by registered mail within thirty days from the date of last publication. The Trademarks Registry shall notify the registration applicant with a copy of the opposition to his application within fifteen days from the date of receiving such opposition. The registration applicant has to file a written counter statement to such opposition to the Ministry within thirty days from the date of being notified with the opposition. If the counter statement is not received within the prescribed term, the applicant shall be deemed to have abandoned his application. Before deciding the oppositions submitted, the Ministry shall hear the sayings of both parties or the party requesting such hearing. The Ministry shall issue a decision rejecting or accepting the registration. It may determine whatever limitations or conditions deemed fit in the latter case. Any interested party may petition before the Committee against the Ministry’s decision within fifteen days from the date of being notified therewith. He may appeal against the Committee’s decision before the concerned civil court within thirty days from the date of being notified with the decision. It shall not entail appeal of a decision of accepting the trademark registration that the registration procedures should be stopped unless the concerned court decides otherwise.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Jun 10, 2014 (Newsletter Issue 9/14)Trademark Examination Procedures ChangedThe Trademark Office in the United Arab Emirates recently issued circular n. 3/2014 related to tademark eamination prcedures.
The Trademark Office will cease issuing preliminary examination reports and the examination decisions will only be limited to acceptance, rejection or conditional acceptance. In the past, the UAE Trademarks Office used to issue preliminary examination reports requesting the applicant or his agent to comply with the certain conditions so as to make the application in a proper order and make it ready for final examination which will be stopped as of 1 June 2014.
No grace period will be granted for responding to examination report, whereas it was the practice to give the applicant 10 days to respond to such examination reports.
Trademark applications will be rejected, if their list of goods and services do not comply with Nice classification.
The said amendments entered into force on June 1, 2014.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Apr 01, 2014 (Newsletter Issue 6/14)Change of Practice of PoAAs of 1st April 2014, the UAE Trademark Office will not accept any new filings without submitting the original Power of Attorney sufficing the legalization requirements including legalization of UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Same regulations will apply for the opposition procedures, knowing that all opposition must be filed within 30 days from the publication date. This will apply as well to any applications with a priority claim with an imminent deadline or opposition cases with deadlines.
However, all other actions such as recordal of change of name or address, assignment and renewal can be filed and official fees thereof paid without submitting the original Power of Attorney sufficing the legalization requirements including legalization of UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs whilst these actions will not be processed until the submission of the power of attorney executed as required.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Mar 18, 2014 (Newsletter Issue 5/14)
New Procedure for Amending TM Applications
Starting February 2014, the Trademark Office in the UAE will no longer accept any major changes on all trademark applications before the mark is completely registered. Only typographical errors may be corrected provided that they are not closely related to the subject trademark or do not cause the addition or modification of the main elements of the application. Amendment of the trademarks may occur after the mark is registered according to the Trademark Law enforced in the country.
Source: Saba & Co. IP – Head Office, Lebanon
Jun 14, 2013 (Newsletter Issue 9/13)
Filing Cases Online at Court
Dubai Courts have officially launched three innovative online services aimed at saving time and effort, and facilitating the work of litigants.
The services with the name ‘Al-Salfa’ are online registration of cases, access to the archive of case files and pro bono legal advice.
The testing of this service program began on February 1, 2013, and was made available to law firms on an optional basis. Owing to its successful testing, the program became mandatory from June 1st so that all cases presented to the Dubai Courts can be registered online from anywhere in the world.
The second service program allows plaintiffs to access file archives online and print information about their cases, judgments, decisions and other information, without the need to visit the courts to acquire the papers.
A pro bono legal advice program titled ‘Sure’ has further been launched, where volunteering lawyers can offer free legal consultations to litigants. This policy is aimed at boosting confidence in the judiciary and facilitating litigation for the public.
Source: Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Legal, Jordan
Apr 02, 2013 (Newsletter Issue 4/13)
10th Edition of Nice Classification
The UAE Trademark Office has recently shifted its trademark classification system from the 9th edition to the 10th edition of the Nice International Classification for Goods and Services, which entered into force on January 1, 2012 and applies to new applications only.
Source: Saba & Co. IP – Head Office, Lebanon
Mar 12, 2013 (Newsletter Issue 3/13)
New Automatic Search System Implemented by TM Office
The Trademark Office of the United Arab Emirates announced that it has started implementing a new automation search system which will only reveal the identical marks and not the confusingly similar marks.
Source: www.ag-ip-news.com
Jul 30, 2012 (Newsletter Issue 12/12)
Changes in TM Routine
The head of the Trademark Office in the UAE advised that it has been decided to change some stipulations related to the issuance of the final registration certificate of a trademark.
It is been stated that the filing number will become the registration number of the mark. This new change will apply to pending applications as well as new ones.
Source: NJQ & Associates
Feb 14, 2010 (Newsletter Issue 8/10)Collection of Trademark Fees ChangedStarting from February 14, 2010, the publishing fees for the Trademark Bulletin shall be collected within 30 days from the applicant being notified of accepting the filing of the application. Trademark registration fees shall be collected within 30 days from the elapse of the 30 day opposition period starting from the publication date.
Source: JAH & Co. IP and www.ag-ip-news.com Jan 21, 2010Arabic Domain Passes ICANN String EvaluationOn January 21, 2010, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced that the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Russia are the first four countries to meet a specific set of linguistic and technical requirements required under the ICANN’s IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) ccTLD Fast Track String Evaluation.
For more information please click here Legal basis is the Federal Law no. 36 of 2021 came into effect on 2 January 2022 as replacement of the Federal Law No. 37 of 1992 as amended in its entirety.
The Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”) has a subsidiary law (Intellectual Property Law, DIFC Law No. 4 of 2019).
The United Arab Emirates have one common (Federal) Trademark Law which covers the seven emirates of Dubai, Abu-Dhabi, Sharjah, Ras Al-Kaimah, Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al-Quwain.
United Arab Emirates is a member of Paris Convention. UAE is a member of the Madrid Protocol as of December 28, 2021. Further, since 2 January 2022, UAE started implementing its new trademark law, the Federal Trademarks Law No. 36 of 2021. Lastly, the accession of UAE to the Nice Agreement (in force on 18 April 2022).
Trademark protection is obtained by registration. It can also be acquired by sufficient public recognition.
ClassificationNice classifcation, 10th editon
It is possible to claim class heading.
Exceptions: Alcoholic beverages in Class 32 and all goods in Class 33; no trademark protection can be obtained for alcoholic beverages. Pork in class 29 cannot be registered either.
What is Registrable as a TrademarkA trademark is everything that takes a distinctive form of names, words, signatures, letters, symbols, numbers, addresses, seals, drawings, pictures, engravings, packaging, graphic elements, shapes, color, color sets, or combinations thereof, a sign or a group of signs, including three-dimensional marks, hologram marks, or any other mark used or intended to be used to distinguish the goods or services of a facility from the goods or services of other facilities, or to indicate the performance of a service, or conducting monitoring or examination of goods or services.
The Implementing Regulation to Federal Law No. (36) of 2021 on the New Trademark Law adds new categories of innovative trademarks, in particular smells, sounds, and hologram technology.
The Implementing Regulation also adds a provision on the protection of geographical indications, which was not mentioned in the legislation, and clarifies the following: The trademark owner may apply for protection of a geographic indicator outside the country after presenting the geographic indicator’s registration certificate from the source country.
The following trademark types are registrable: Trademarks, service marks, collective marks, certification marks, series marks, trade names and titles of establishment.
Registration ProceedingsThe trademark application is filed at the Trademark Office electronically at the site of the Trademark Office.
According to the Implementing Regulation to Federal Law No. (36) of 2021 on the New Trademark Law, it is possible to submit one application for multiple classes, in addition to submitting multiple applications for the same licence for individuals and companies. The deposit, publication, and registration fees double based on the number of classes applied for. There is no maximum limit on the classes required. However, filing a national or international application for multiple classes is not yet in practice and in force.
Any individual or company may apply for trademarks.
Similar trademarks may be protected together with the main mark as associated marks for the same proprietor if the main elements are similar and the differences are insignificant. However, the TM examiner does not require recording of an association between similar marks of the same applicant where it is merely noted in the TM system that the marks are associated and therefore cannot be assigned together.
Foreign applicants need a local agent or a domestic business address.
It is permitted to file new trademark applications and obtain the filing number and date with the official receipt confirming the filing particulars of the trademark without a copy of or original Power of Attorney (PoA).
The fully legalized PoA up to the UAE Consulate and locally attested by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs with sworn Arabic translation should be submitted within 90 days from the filing date (non-extendable deadline).
Foreign applicants do not need a domestic trademark registration.
The application process includes a formal examination, an examination of distinctiveness (absolute grounds), and a search for prior trademarks (relative grounds). Signs not deemed distinctive in the examination can be registered if distinctiveness has been acquired by extensive use or if there is a foreign registration in countries following substantive examination of trademarks.
The processing time from first filing to registration is approx. 3-4 months.
The Regulation sets for a maximum period of 90 days for the issuance of the results of the substantive examination in which a decision is taken on the acceptance, refusal or conditional suspension of the trademark.
Before registration, the trademark application is published in the Trademark Bulletin within a non-extendible 30 days from the acceptance of the trademark, otherwise, the application shall be considered canceled.
The publishing fees for the Trademark Bulletin shall be collected within a non-extendible 30 days from the applicant being notified of accepting the filing of the application.
The trademark registration fees shall be collected within 30 days from the elapsing of the 30-day opposition period starting from the publication date. Failure to pay the publication and registration fees within the above dates will be subject to a penalty for every month's delay.
Opposition PeriodNational:The opposition period is 30 days from the date of the last publication since a trademark application is published in the Trademark Bulletin. Extension of time is NOT possible for filing oppositions, counterstatements and responding to office actions.
Details regarding the
Opposition Period against designation of IR Mark are available in our publication on this topic
here
Trademark DurationA trademark registration is valid for 10 years from the date of application, renewable for periods of 10 years.
Grace Period for Trademark RenewalPractical details on grace periods for trademark renewals are available in our publication
herePractical details on trademark use requirements are available in our publication
hereThe official fee for filing a trademark application is AED 750 in one class. The publication fee in the Trademark Journal after acceptance is AED 750. The registration fee of a mark or a series of marks in one class is AED 5,000.
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General Trademark Regulations
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Jul 25, 2024
JAH Intellectual Property, Doha, Qatar
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