Trademarks, service marks, logos and devices (i.e. any combination of names, words, phrases, symbols, devices or non-functional shapes or colors) that are adopted and used by businesses to identify any goods manufactured in the Republic of the Maldives from those of others, are registrable at the Ministry of Economic Development.

Generic terms or those that have a common “secondary meaning” are usually excluded from trademark protection (e.g. Aspirin). Trademark rights are obtained only by carrying out the registration procedure; the first to register such marks will have the exclusive right to use them in connection with the goods or company business actually sold under the mark or specified in the registration. This exclusively enables the owner of the trademark to prevent third party use and registration of a confusingly similar mark on the same or similar goods or company business.

Trademarks of goods and company logos/service marks may be registered by businesses authorized to engage in business in the Maldives at the Ministry of Economic Development by submitting an application for registration with a soft copy in .jpeg format of the trademark/logo sought to be registered.

The Ministry will usually confirm registration of the trademark within a period of one working day of the application. The Ministry will levy the following charges for registration of logos, trademarks or shipping marks: MVR 50 per month plus one-off revenue stamp of MVR 100.

Duration of registration: maximum period of 60 months (five years).

The principal benefit that arises from presently registering trademarks at the Ministry of Economic Development is that the Ministry will prevent any third parties from subsequently trying to register that same mark, use that same mark or to sue another mark that is likely to cause confusion with the registered mark. It has been reported to us by a source in the Maldives that the Ministry has in the past closed down the operations of certain companies that have tried to be confusing in this way (e.g. “Lemon T-shirts” versus “Lime T-shirts”).