IP and trademark
Intellectual Property Lawyers in Dubai
Someone is selling your product under your name. A former distributor has registered your brand in his own company. The agency you paid for the logo has kept the working files and says the design belongs to them. Each of these is an intellectual property problem, and in each the first question is the same: what is registered, and in whose name?
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The short answer
This page covers what protection exists in the UAE for trade marks, copyright, patents, designs and confidential information, how a trade mark is registered, and what can be done when a competitor copies you.
On this page
Ten free minutes
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What protection exists in the UAE
Intellectual property is not one right. It is several, each protecting a different thing, and one product usually carries more than one. Trade marks, patents and designs are registered federally, so the right runs across the UAE rather than one emirate.
Trade marks
A trade mark protects the sign that tells a customer the goods or services are yours: a name, a logo, and in some cases other distinctive elements. It covers what appears on the invoice, the packaging and the shopfront. It does not protect the idea behind the product, only the badge on it.
Copyright
Copyright protects original works: text, images, music, film, drawings and software. Protection generally follows from creating the work rather than from filing, which sounds convenient until there is an argument about who made what and when. Dated files and delivery records settle that argument better than anything else.
Patents
A patent protects an invention, a product or a process that is new and not obvious. It is the slowest and most technical right to obtain, and it has to be drafted before the invention is shown publicly, because disclosure can destroy the novelty you rely on. Businesses looking for a patent attorney in Dubai want a filing route and someone who can act when the invention is copied.
Industrial designs
A design right protects how a product looks, its shape, pattern or ornamentation, rather than how it works. It matters where appearance is what sells: furniture, packaging, jewellery, consumer devices. Like a patent, it turns on the design not already being public.
Trade secrets and confidential information
Some things are better kept off any register: a formula, a process, a pricing model, a supplier list. These are protected by being kept secret and by contract, mainly confidentiality obligations in employment and supplier agreements. Once the information is out, the remedy is against whoever leaked it.
Why registration decides who owns the brand
First to file, in practice
The UAE trade mark system runs on filing. Trading under a name here for years does not by itself make the registration yours; the party who filed is generally the party who owns it. Businesses that build a brand and register it late are the ones who find a former partner or distributor already holds the mark.
A trade licence is not a trade mark
Registering a company, or reserving a trade name with a licensing authority, lets you trade under that name. It does not stop another business registering the same or a similar mark for the goods you sell. Our corporate and commercial lawyers in Dubai page covers the licensing side; this page covers the brand.
What a registration gives you
A registered mark is property. You can license it, assign it, use it to oppose a later application, base a complaint to the authorities on it, and in most cases record it so that goods can be stopped at the border. Without one, those routes are harder and some are closed.
Filing a trade mark application in the UAE
Searching before you file
A search tells you whether an earlier mark is likely to block yours, and whether you are already infringing someone by trading under the name. It is the cheapest stage of the process and the one most often skipped.
Choosing what to file and for what
An application covers specified goods and services, grouped into classes. File for what you sell and what you realistically plan to sell: a narrow specification leaves gaps, an inflated one invites objection. If you trade under a word and a logo, consider protecting both, because a logo registration may not stop someone using the word alone.
Examination and objections
The registry examines the application and can object, for example that the mark describes the goods, is not distinctive enough, or conflicts with something already registered. An objection is not the end of it. It usually calls for a written response, sometimes a limitation of the goods, and occasionally evidence of use.
Opposition by another owner
Once an application is published, another rights holder can oppose it. Opposition is contested, with evidence and argument on both sides, and it can go on appeal. If you are opposing, your case rests on the earlier right and on proof of your own use. If you are opposed, ask whether the goods really overlap and whether a negotiated coexistence is cheaper than the fight.
Renewals and keeping the right alive
A registration is not permanent. It has to be renewed, and a mark that is not used can become vulnerable to cancellation. Diarising renewal dates and keeping evidence of use, invoices, packaging and advertising, is part of owning the right.
Protecting the brand outside the UAE
Protection is territorial. A UAE registration covers the UAE. If you sell into other Gulf markets, into Europe, or online, the question is which countries matter enough to file in and in what order. Whether a single international filing route is open to you has to be checked against that list rather than assumed.
Enforcement when someone copies you
Counterfeits and the supply chain
Counterfeiting is rarely one seller. It is a shipment, a warehouse, a stall and a set of online listings, and the useful work is often upstream of the shop. A recorded right brings customs into the answer, and a documented test purchase is worth more as evidence than a dozen complaints.
A competitor using a similar mark
The harder cases are not fakes. They are a competitor using a name, a get-up or a logo close enough that customers confuse the two. The analysis is whether the marks are similar, whether the goods overlap, and whether the ordinary customer would be confused. That is a matter of assessment, and worth an honest opinion before a letter goes out.
Online listings, domains and social media
Marketplaces, app stores, social platforms and domain registrars all have takedown procedures, and they generally want proof of a registered right. These routes are quick and cheap compared with litigation, and they work well when the evidence pack is prepared once and reused.
Choosing the route
There is normally more than one option: a letter before action, an administrative or criminal complaint, a civil claim for an order and compensation, or a settlement with an undertaking to stop. Which is right depends on what you want: money, the goods off the shelf, or the name back. Our civil litigation lawyers in Dubai page explains how a civil claim runs.
Licensing, assignment and IP in contracts
Licensing and assignment
A licence lets someone else use the right on agreed terms; an assignment transfers it outright. Both should say which rights are covered, for which goods, for how long and in which territory, what quality control applies, and what happens at the end. Recordal against the register can matter for effect against third parties.
Work created by employees and contractors
The default ownership position for work made by an employee is not the same as for work made by an agency, a freelancer or a development house, and neither default is safe to assume. Deal with it expressly: assignment of what is created, delivery of source files, confidentiality that survives the engagement, and a clean handover when someone leaves. Our commercial contract drafting and review page covers the wider set of terms. Most intellectual property that businesses lose here is lost this way.
What to gather before you instruct us
For a filing: the exact mark as you use it, a clean logo file, the goods and services you sell, the owner’s details as they should appear on the register, and the date you first used the name here.
For a dispute: the registration certificate if you have one, photographs or samples of the infringing goods or listings, the correspondence with the other side, any agreement you had with them, and invoices showing your own use.
Questions people ask us
My trade mark is registered abroad. Is it protected in the UAE?
Generally not by itself. Rights are territorial, so a registration elsewhere protects you there. If you sell, manufacture or license here, the mark usually needs protecting here as well.
What does a trade mark registration cost?
There are official fees payable to the registry and professional fees for the work, and the total depends on how many marks and classes are involved and whether the application meets an objection or an opposition. We quote before we start. Our legal fees and how our charges work page explains the basis we use.
Someone registered my brand before I did. Is there anything I can do?
Sometimes. The options can include challenging the registration, opposing later filings, negotiating an assignment, or rebranding while protecting what you still hold. Which is realistic depends on the evidence of your own earlier use and on who the other party is, so send us the documents before you contact them.
What is the difference between a trade mark, a copyright and a patent?
A trade mark protects the badge on the product. Copyright protects the creative work itself, such as text, artwork or code. A patent protects the technical invention. One product can carry all three.
Do you handle patents as well as trade marks?
We advise on patent and design protection and on enforcement, and where specialist technical drafting is required we say so and arrange it. Businesses comparing intellectual property law firms in Dubai, or looking for patent law firms in Dubai, should ask who will draft the specification, because that is where a patent is won or lost.
Speak to a trade mark lawyer in Dubai
If you are launching a brand, have found a copy of your product on sale, or have received a letter accusing you of infringement, the useful first step is a look at the register and at your documents.
Call +971 50 747 9570 or email help@lawyerindubai.ae with the mark, the goods and a short summary. Our office is at Empire Height Towers, Marasi Drive, Business Bay, Dubai. You can also use the form on our contact page.
Related pages: corporate and commercial law, commercial contracts, civil litigation, legal fees.
What this costs
The first ten minutes are free. After that a standard fee applies and you are told what it is, in writing, before any work starts. Court and government fees are set by the court and are separate from ours.
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