Till the end of October 2018, the trademark registrations applications received by the ministry was approximately 13,556, while the trademarks that were registered were around 16,170. The registrations that were renewed were 6,741, trademark transfer application that was processed was 1,391 and the license that was issued for the use of trademark were 53.

What do we understand by the term trademark?

A trademark is a symbol or the name that is unique in nature, used as an identity for the company or the product. Once it is registered, that particular word or the symbol can’t be used by any other company or the organization forever or till the time it is used by the company with the proper paperwork along with fees.

In order to protect your brand, registration of the trademark is imperative. It not only aids a favourable brand recall value but also stamps a sense of authority into your line of business. Apart from protecting the identity of the product or the company, there are layers of advantages attached to obtaining a trademark for your brand. The benefits include:

• The company can send the notice to the other companies who are trying to use the same word or symbol as their trademark.
• There is a legal ground for claiming the title of ownership.
• The company has the exclusive right for using the registered trademark.

You get to firmly protect your brand name and prevent its popularity from being misused by other unscrupulous entities or business rivals.
Now that it is finally decided to get the trademark of your business registered, the first step in the process will be to find the lawyer or the professional who is working as a corporate lawyer so as to assist the company throughout the process. Here are some of the glimmer points of the procedures which you will move across in the process.

So if you are planning to establish a company in Dubai or anywhere across UAE or anywhere in the free zones, for getting your company’s trademark registered, an application is needed to put forward directed to the Ministry of Economy and commerce. You need to fill all the details in Arabic and need to submit along with the application, 14 specimens drawing for every specific mark. You can get the help from any of the licensed law firms in UAE which are working locally. After the submission of the application, the remaining process is the headache of the ministry i.e. it’s their responsibility to check the application thoroughly and then make the decision regarding the acceptance of the application. In the case of the missing information the application is rejected by the ministry, a report is prepared by taking the base of the missing information.

During such cases, the applicant is directly writ by the ministry, and the applicant is given the limited tenure to revert back to the ministry. The applicant has two choices, either to accept the report given by the ministry or to file a plea against the report given by the ministry. Once the issues are resolved, the trademark application which is approved will be published in the official gazette of the UAE. Along with the official gazette, it will also be published in the leading newspaper of the UAE.

Federal Law Number (37) OF 1992

In the Federal Law Number (37) OF 1992, the clauses are mentioned concerning what will be deliberated as the trademark and what will not be deliberated. The trademarks which are acceptable should be something unique and different like a different and distinctive name, symbol, picture, logo etc. But the trademark having no unique feature, or any mark or word that can breach the morals of the public, or goes against the public order or which offends any part or section of society will not be accepted.

Update on New Trademark application in UAE in 2018

In 2018, there was an important update in the process of the trademark registration application here in the UAE. For all businesses looking to procure a trademark for their brand in the UAE, it is vital that they know about these changes so that they can apply for trademark only after having the relevant knowledge in the latest updates to the grievance redressal format applicable to businesses that want to put forward a complaint about trademark misuse.

Significant Developments

The department of the economics and commerce came up with the electronic platforms which gave the owner of the trademarks an easy approach to file for counterfeit and infringement complaints against their brand. This facility to help the business owners to file a complaint in the electronic manner. As an outcome, the entire redressal process has been expedited substantially, which has resulted into a speedy process as compared to the traditional method that was prevalent in the past.

Two important judgments

• Judgment was passed concerning the adjournment of the cancellation action which is caused by the confusion between two brands. The judgment was appreciated by the owner of the international brands as it protected them from refined copycats.
• The judgment is passed concerning the upholding of the bad faith as an acumen for losing the trademark owner.

For any business owner, the process of obtaining trademark in a timely manner is important to prevent losses arising from misuse of brand name. In order to speed up the process and get the necessary paperwork done on time and as per the process, it is important to connect with a reliable expert like EBS to move the process ahead and get the trademark on time.