How to register a Trademark in United Arab Emirates

An overview of Patent Process in UAE & GCC

Filing a patent application in UAE or GCC Patent Office must be based on several steps and criteria, through this article we will explain in brief the general patent process in UAE Patent Office and GCC Patent Office.

Overview

 A patent, the oldest form of intellectual-property protection, is a legal document giving, for a set time, a monopoly on making, using and selling an invention.

Patents were first issued in the Arab world in 1916 in Morocco, followed by Lebanon in 1924, and most of the rest of the Middle East in the 1940s and 1950s.

The GCC Patent Office, in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, provides a centralized system for obtaining protection in all six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Since the office was established in 1998.

The process

“The applicant should have a clear vision of the marketing area of his invention and he should carefully select the regions in which he can succeed.

Local applications are filed at the UAE Patent Office in Abu Dhabi, where patent protection is granted for inventions deemed novel, inventive and useful.

UAE patent applications must be filed in English and Arabic, accompanied by supporting documents, including power of attorney, an assignment where the applicant is not the inventor, and a commercial license (in cases where the applicant is a commercial entity).

Applications with same filing requirements in UAE can be also filed at the GCC Patent Office, which gives protection that is valid in all six GCC countries.

When an application has been filed in the UAE or the GCC office, it is examined for compliance with a technical- specification format, including the technical background and description of any drawings. The application then receives a filing number and the filing date is secured. A search report is prepared to check whether the invention is new and unique, and substantive examinations are carried out by engineers and experts. If the local Patent Office does not have the required expertise, the application is sent to partners at the Austrian Patent Office.

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How to Register Trademark in Dubai?

You decide to start a business in Dubai, this is wonderful, but there are things you should know before going ahead. Trademark registration is one of the main factors needed for your business besides choosing a company name and designing a logo.

The next step is to find a locally licensed agent to assist you in the trademark registration process. Here, you can see some of the important procedures needed to move across while registering for a trademark:

Step 1: Trademark Search

Trademark search is important and recommended before applying for registration.

It is the only way to check if someone else has already registered your trademark.You can save time and money by searching for trademarks that could conflict with yours before you apply. If someone already owns a trade mark they might want to object to your application.

Trademark search can be performed by text or image in brand data from multiple national and international sources, including trademarks, appellations of origin and official emblems

Trademark search in UAE will be performed at the UAE Trademarks Office for all U.A.E states and this includes records of cancellations, assignments, and abandonment's, registered, published, and pending trademarks. Search Report is provided upon request.

Step 2: Application

An official application form shall be filled in Arabic including 5 specimen drawings of each of the marks. The application will be submitted to the UAE Trademarks Office for examination.

In case, UAE Trademarks Office finds some missing or inappropriate information, the application will be rejected. UAE Trademarks Office will accordingly prepare a report.

During such instances, UAE Trademarks Office requests the applicant to report at the office within the specified period of time. The applicant can either choose to accept the UAE Trademarks Office’s report or to file a plea against it with the Trademarks Committee of the Ministry. If the Committee’s report is unfavorable, then the applicant can further choose to file an appeal at the Civil Court.

Once all the issues are resolved, we can proceed to step 3.

Step 3: Publication of notice in the Official Gazette

The approved trademark applications will be published in the UAE Official Gazette and also in two leading newspapers.

After that, the public has 30 days from last publication date within which they need to respond, if they have any objections regarding the trademark and this must be forwarded in a written notice to the Ministry. For any objections that arise, the applicant has another 30 days within which an action must be taken.

Step 4: Registration

If there is no objection over your trademark during the opposition period, your trademark will proceed for registration and issuance of the certificate of registration by payment of the designated fees.

Step 5: Renewal

The certificate is valid for 10 years and can be renewable for the same period.

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