Paralegal services
From the search to the certificate: trademark registration handled end to end.
Our trademark team handles every step of registering a mark in the UAE and abroad, from the clearance search to publication, registration and renewal. We help established and new businesses protect their brand and keep it valid.
A trademark is the legal form of a brand. In the UAE it is registered with the Ministry of Economy under Federal Decree-Law No. 36 of 2021, lasts ten years and can be renewed indefinitely. Registration gives the owner the exclusive right to use the mark for the goods and services covered, the right to stop others using confusingly similar marks, the ability to record the mark with customs, and a registered asset that can be licensed, sold and valued. An unregistered brand has far weaker protection, and a mark registered in the wrong classes or in the wrong name can be worth little when it is needed.
The trademark team at Khalifa Al Sada Advocates & Legal Consultants specialises in all the steps of registering a trademark, from the search to registration with the intended office. We help long-running and new businesses protect their trademark rights through registration and by keeping the registration valid.
We register marks for:
A first registration and a portfolio of hundreds of marks receive the same attention to classes, ownership and deadlines.
We begin with a clearance search of the UAE register and, where relevant, the GCC and international registers, and we advise on the risk of objection or opposition. We prepare the application in the correct Nice classes, in the right owner's name and with a specification of goods and services that covers current and planned use. We file with the Ministry of Economy, respond to examination reports and objections, monitor publication and file or defend oppositions before the Trademark Committee.
Once the mark is registered we issue the certificate, record it with UAE Customs if counterfeits are a risk, and diarise the renewal. We handle assignments, changes of name and address, licence recordals and the registration of the mark in other GCC countries and internationally through our associate firms and correspondents. If a third party infringes the mark, our intellectual property lawyers take over the enforcement, from a cease and desist letter to a court claim.
Registering a trademark is a procedure, but deciding what to register, in which classes and in whose name is legal advice, and our team provides both. Because our IP lawyers also enforce marks in the market and the courts, we register in the way that will make enforcement easiest later.
We work in Arabic and English, and we handle Arabic-script marks, transliterations and bilingual marks with the care the UAE market requires.
We search the register and advise whether the mark can be registered and in which classes.
We prepare and file the application with the Ministry of Economy and pay the official fees on your behalf.
We respond to any objection, monitor publication and deal with any opposition.
We deliver the certificate, record the mark with customs where needed and manage the renewals.
Typically six to nine months from filing to certificate if there is no objection or opposition.
Usually both, and often the Arabic version as well. A word mark protects the name in any style; a logo mark protects the design. We advise on the combination that gives the widest protection.
Registration in the UAE is territorial, but well-known foreign marks are protected even without local registration, and bad-faith filings can be cancelled. We advise before you file.
The registration lapses after a grace period and the mark becomes available to others. We diarise every renewal for our clients.
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