– Federal Law No. 36 of 2021 on Trademarks and Geographical Indications, in force since January 2, 2022.
– Executive Regulations of Federal Law No. 36 of 2021 on Trademarks and Geographical Indications, in force since June 16, 2022.

– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since September 24, 1974.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since April 10, 1996.
– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act, since September 19, 1996.
– Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, since December 28, 2021.
– Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks, Geneva Act, since April 18, 2022.

Applicant: citizens of one of the United Arab Emirates whether they are individuals or corporate bodies who are doing any commercial, industrial, vocational or service business; foreign individuals or corporate bodies who are doing any commercial, industrial, vocational or service business; public corporate bodies.

Foreigners: have the same rights to register their trademarks as those for the nationals of the United Arab Emirates.

Definition of a trademark: a trademark is any distinguished form of names, words, signatures, letters, symbols, numbers, addresses, seals, drawings, pictures, engravings, packaging, graphic elements, forms, color or colors or a combination 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. A distinctive sound or smell may be considered as a trademark.

Service marks: registrable.

Geographical indications: registrable.

Not registrable: marks devoid of distinctiveness; marks which are against public morals, public emblems, flags, insignia of the Red Cross and other similar institutions; marks of purely religious nature; geographical names whose use may cause confusion as to the origin of products; names and pictures of others without their consent; titles and degrees of honor to which the applicant is not legally entitled; marks belonging to persons with whom dealing is prohibited; marks whose registration for certain products may dilute the value of other products or services.

Protection of well-known trademarks: internationally well-known trademarks are not registrable by a third party without the consent of the original owner.

Classification: international (10th Edition). Class 33, alcoholic goods in class 32, and pork meat in class 29 cannot be registered.

Multi-class applications: possible, but not yet implemented at the time of writing.

Territories covered: the whole of the United Arab Emirates, which comprises the Emirates (States) of Dubai, Abu-Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al-Khaimah and Umm Al-Quwain.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney, duly legalized up to the Consulate of the United Arab Emirates in the country of the applicant;
2. A soft copy of the trademark to be protected;
3. Certified copy of the priority application if priority is claimed (claiming priority can be made only within six months from the first filing date in a member State under the Paris Convention).

For renewals:
1. Copy of the certificate of registration.

For a change of name or address:
1. Power of attorney, duly legalized up to the UAE Consulate;
2. Change of name or address certificate, duly legalized up to the UAE Consulate.

Note: late filing of the legalized POA is possible for new trademark applications, to be filed within ninety days from the application date; non-extendible. A POA is no longer required for trademark renewals.

Electronic filing: available.

Examination: on formal, absolute and relative grounds.

Disclaimers: available.  

Letters of consent: are accepted, must be legalized up to the UAE Consulate.

Publication: accepted trademark applications are published in the Official Gazette. The publication requirement in two local newspapers has been waived.

Appeal: an appeal against the decision of the Registrar for rejecting a trademark application can be filed with the competent Committee within thirty days from the date of notification of rejection. The Committee’s decision can be appealed to the competent civil court within sixty days of notification of the decision.

Opposition: any interested party can file opposition to the registration of a trademark within thirty days from the date of the publication of the trademark in the Official Gazette. The decision of the Registrar in an opposition case may be appealed to the Committee and to the competent civil court. In the absence of opposition, a trademark is registered and the certificate of registration is issued in digital format only.

Duration of protection: ten years, renewable for like periods.

Renewal: the renewal application can be filed within the last year of its protection period. Renewal should also be published in the Official Gazette. The publication requirement in two local newspapers has been waived. A grace period of six months is allowed for late renewal of a registration.

Assignment: is possible only with the business concerned or the enterprise exploiting the mark; documents: deed of assignment signed by both parties, a power of attorney, all documents being duly legalized up to a UAE Consulate and attested locally by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Recordal of a trademark license: possible. Multiple licensing is allowed, but sub-licensing is not possible unless otherwise stated in the license agreement.

Non-contestability: the ownership of a trademark registration is non-contestable if the trademark has been used continuously for five years as of the registration date without being the subject of any court case contesting its validity.

Non-use: a trademark registration is liable to cancellation by any interested party if there has been no effective use of the mark for five consecutive years.

Re-registration by a third party: a cancelled trademark registration may not be registered by a third party for the same products or services before a period of three years from the date of cancellation.

Infringement: illegal use of a registered trademark by an unauthorized person, use of a forged or counterfeit trademark, application to one’s goods of a registered trademark belonging to another party in bad faith, dealing in products bearing a forged or counterfeit mark, rendering services under a forged or counterfeit mark, and use of a trademark falling under the category of unregistrable marks especially use of the names, surnames and pictures of others without consent.

Repetition of an offense: is punishable with higher or added punishment.

Trademark recordal with Customs Department: the Customs in Sharjah, Ras Al-Khaimah, Ajman, Abu-Dhabi and Dubai have introduced a trademark recordation system in order to combat the illegal entry of goods into the UAE and infringement of registered trademarks. In case of suspicious goods, the Customs Department will inform the registered owner of the mark who can then take legal action against the infringers. In order to record a trademark with the Customs, it must have a valid registration at the UAE Trademark Office.

Transitional provisions: trademarks currently registered or used in the United Arab Emirates have to be applied for in order to secure their entry in the Federal Register. This should be effected within one year from the implementation of the law. The first users shall have priority to register their trademarks during that period. The criteria that shall be taken into consideration when determining the first user are the date of use, continuation of use, circumstances surrounding use, and the registration itself.

Status of the Ras Al-Khaimah trademark registrations: no legal effect.