Trademarks are brand names, symbols, or logos used to identify goods or services provided by a specific company. A trademark can be anything most as to be a letter, symbol, figure, signature, or image that can distinguish one set of goods and services from the other set of goods and services that belongs to one or different owners.
The trademark is an essential part of protecting the brand and ensuring that the companies cannot copy or intimate your trademark. The government of the specific country itself holds the authority of providing the trademarks throughout the world. The official authority governing trademark registration, renewal, and cancellation in the United Arab Emirates is the Ministry of Economy.
How to register trademark in UAE?
Since we are living in the 21st century today and the internet has become one of the most important and convenient access for everyone, everything is going online, including government officials and their workloads which a decade earlier was all done manually. Earlier getting the trademark was not so easy and hectic and had a long process of visiting the government offices but today trademark process has become very easy around the whole world and not just in UAE after everything has gone online. The UAE trademark registration process can be done online through a simple online process on the Ministry of Economy site.
But before heading to the main point a few things must be kept in mind before registering your trademark. In the UAE, there are certain limitations to be kept in mind when registering a trademark. You are required to follow a certain procedure and fulfill some requirements if you want to apply for a trademark in UAE:
- Offenses against morals and religions
- Public symbols (such as national flags)
- Symbols like Red Cross and Red Crescent
- Name or title of third parties
- A direct translation of other well-known trademarks
The process of trademark registrationis simple; to get a trademark registered you are required to follow the steps given below:
5 Step by step guide to UAE trademark registration process:
1. Make Sure the Trademark is Available
The first and foremost step before getting a trademark registered is to see whether or not it is available or not for you to use. If the trademark is already been taken by some other company then you cannot take it and you will have to think of something else for your trademark or search for a different trademark that is not taken by anyone else. Once you have the trademark that is available for you to use then you can proceed with the next step.
2. Fill Out the Online Application Form
The next step is the simplest and a lot easy than that of the earlier one yet it is to be done with the most mindfulness and carefully or else one mistake will cancel your trademark registration. All you have to do is to log in to the Official website of the Ministry of Economy of UAE and fill in your and the company’s details. To do so, you are to select ‘Services’ on the website’s homepage and then ‘e-Services’ from the dropdown menu. Next, select ‘Trademarks’ from the Services page and click ‘Trademark Registration’ under New Applications, once you have been redirected to the other page. Fill out the application form and upload the required documents. Following are the documents required for you to upload on the website of the Ministry of Economy:
- Trademark Logo
- Copy of Trade License
- Power of Attorney
- Passport Copy
- Priority Document
- List of Goods and Services to be protected
After you have finished filling up your and the company’s details carefully, recheck the form at least a couple of times before submitting the final application.
3. Pay the standard UAE Trademark registration fees
After the final submission of the application, you are now ready to pay the trademark registration charges in UAE for the trademark process. You are required to make a payment of 8,700 AED for the trademark or brand registration. You can make a payment for the trademark process through the Ministry of Economy website itself.
4. Wait for Your Application to Be Reviewed by The Ministry of Economy
After submission of the application and the payment, your application is reviewed by the Ministry of Economy for UAE trademark registration process. You have to be careful when filling out your application and not miss out on anything or fill out the wrong information which might get your application registration canceled. If your application has no issues then the ministry will approve it in mostly 30 days.
5. Publish an Announcement Newsletter in Two Local Newspapers
After getting approval from the UAE Ministry of Economy, you needed to publish an announcement newsletter in two of the official journal and two local newspapers about your trademark. The making of an announcement will cost you 1,000 AED to publish the news. The applicant is also required to announce in two local Arabic-language newspapers.
After this, you are to wait, if someone objects to your trademark in the span of 30 days, the ministry will review the application again, and if you do not meet the requirement they can even reject your application.
Get the Trademark Registration Certificate
If no one makes any objection to your trademark in the given period then you are free to use your trademark and, make it yours and use it. The UAE Ministry of Economy will provide you with a certificate of registration of your trademark. The certificates will include all your details which include – trademark registration number, trade name and the owner’s (your) name, the trademark, and the description of goods and services your trademark fall into.
Trademark Validity
Trademark validity in UAE is 10 years, after that, you will have to re-register or renew your trademark. Note that the protection of trademark does not apply to the world; your UAE trademark registration process only protects it in the seven emirates of the UAE and not outside UAE.
Renewal of Your Trademark Registration in UAE
The tenure of the trademarks is not for a very long period. Since the trademark availability is only 10 years, you are required to keep track of the renewal of your trademark and before the tenure is over you have to apply for renewal of the trademark. You get 3 months for the renewal of your trademark after the expiry of your trademark; you have to apply for the renewal within these 3 months. If you are unable to do so, with each month you delay the renewal of your trademark, you will have to pay 1,000 AED per month as a late fine.
The process of renewal of the trademark is more or less the same as the procedure of trademark registration UAE. On the official website of the Ministry of Economy, you will have to select ‘Trademark’ from the Service page, select Modification and Maintenance Service, and choose ‘Trademark Renewal’ from the dropdown list. Besides, filling in the details, there, you will also have to upload your registration certificate now and make a payment for the renewal of the trademarks, i.e. 6,300 AED. Soon, after this, your trademark will be renewed within 30 days. Remember to make payment within the given time of 3 months or you will have to pay a late fine of 1,000 AED per month.
How to Cancel Trademark Registration in UAE?
There are times when people want to cancel their trademark due to various reasons. The procedure for cancellation of trademark registration is pretty much safe around the world. In the UAE, you are required to fill out an application and along with the application; a submission of the old registration certificate is required for canceling a registered trademark. Logging in to the official site of the Ministry of Economy website. On the page ‘Trademarks’ there will be a service under the Modification and Maintenance Service of ‘Cancel Registered Trademark by Owner Request’.
Those who wish to cancel their registration can cancel it from here by submitting the old registration certificate after filling in the details in the application and paying a sum of money of 1,500 AED. After you have applied for the cancellation of the trademark you are required to publish an announcement newsletter regarding the same in two local Arabic-language newspapers, after the online process is completed.
Conclusion
In this article, we learned how the trademark holds an essential part in the business and it is important to draw new audiences. We also learned how the trademark is registered and the process that one has to follow while registering for the trademark. The amount that one has to make payment of during the process and when the online procedure is over what all offline requirements to be fulfilled for the announcement of the trademark. The procedure of renewal of the trademark after the trademark has expired and how to cancel a trademark that is not in use anymore. Hope this article was helpful to you and your company. For more such articles stay tuned.
Tim Marrine is a content writer with six years of experience. He has been working with Unboxfame for the past 3 years and has helped the company grow its online presence significantly.