July, 28,2019

By Raka Roy

The latest update on fees for trademark and enforcement of registration was certainly well received by local and international businesses looking at opportunities in the UAE. As the country continues to explore economic models and practices in line with its ‘Vision 2021’ targets, the UAE Ministry of Economy’s administrative order to decrease and waive some of the core official fees associated with their trademark registration and enforcement service is a step towards efficiency and streamlining with international best practice.

Key changes

They include:

• Reduction of renewal and registration fees from AED 10,000 to AED 6,700;
• Waiver of fees on applying with the priority date;
• Waiver of fees for importers and local distributors to open a file for initiating local trading in the market;
• Waiver of fees for inspection of an infringement issue in the market etc.
• Waiver of annuity fees for protection documents (patents, utility certificates and designs)
• Waiver of fees for transferring ownership of patents etc.
• Fees for changing an IP agent has also been waived.

The 33% reduction in the official registration fee for trademarks will certainly encourage brands to increase their protection in the country. A full comparative table laying out the changes is available below.

It is also interesting to note that a complete reduction has been made for patent annuity payments for the entire of the patented invention 20 years lifetime.

Given that statutory registrations for Intellectual property rights is a mandatory step towards starting a business in the UAE, such steps indicate the Government’s willingness to encourage business seamlessly.

Market perception

Ryan Mendonca, Corporate Legal Advisor at Oriental General Trading Inc. notes that the reduction in fees “will have a positive impact on the total number of applications filed in UAE as those [businesses] that use to put aside the filing of their brand name, logo, will now reassess the cost and benefit of registering their Trademarks.”

Larger groups however have a different perspective: Mr. Amit Gadre, Senior legal manager from Landmark Group, added that, “While it’s a big relief of reduction in official fees in the UAE, we don’t see this as having any significant influence on our filings. Dubai being our main country of operations, we have been filing applications Irrespective of the cost. […] This reduction is certainly a big relief in terms of cost but nothing much beyond it. At the most our small businesses can now be more liberal in filing.”

In our view, the changes signify the UAE’s consistent understanding that trademarks aggregate value to products and services in the market. They draw awareness of consumers, while enabling local and international businesses to maintain and protect their identity and reputation.

Please contact our IP specialists for any enquiry or assistance in protecting your Intellectual Property rights.