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                                                                                                                                             Classification     

The United Arab Emirates is a member to the Paris Convention, the GATT Agreement, and the WTO.

The 8th edition of the Nice Classification is followed. A separate application should be filed for each class. A Collective mark could be registered. Applicant could be any natural person or a corporate.

Upon filing, the application is examined as to its form and registrability. The Registrar has the right to impose limitations or modifications he may deem necessary. An accepted application is published in the Trademark Journal and 2 local Arabic newspapers. Any interested party may file an opposition to the Trademark Committee within 30 days as from the publication in the Trademark Journal. If the Committee's decision is not satisfactory, it could be appealed to the competent Court, whose decision is final.

In case of rejection or conditional acceptance, the applicant may appeal to the Trademark Committee within 30 days from receiving the notification. If the Committee's decision is not satisfactory, it could be appealed within 60 days to the competent Court, whose decision is final.

A trademark protection is valid for 10 years as from the filing date, and renewable for similar periods. The Trade mark Law provides 3 months grace period for late renewal with payment of a fine.

A trademark could be assigned with or without the goodwill of the business; Assignment should be recorded in order to be effective against third parties and should be published in the Official Gazette. Changes in the name of the registrant and/or his address, registered user agreements, license and amendments which do not affect the identity of the mark substantially, limitation of the list of goods and/or services covered by a trademark registration, must be recorded and published.

The use of a trademark is not compulsory. However, if the registrant fails to use his mark for 5 consecutive years from the registration date, any interested party may file a request to the Court to cancel a trademark registration.

A trademark registration could be cancelled in one of the following cases:
a) Any party, who has been using the mark prior to its registration, may request the Court, within a period of 5 years from the filing date, to remove the improperly registered mark;
b) The registrant could request the cancellation of his mark;
A cancelled mark cannot be registered in favor of a third party for a period of 3 years from the cancellation date.

Illegal or un-authorized use of a registered trademark or use of a fake or counterfeited trademark in bad faith is considered as infringement act, punishable according to the Law, and the registrant could file criminal and/or civil cases against infringers. A criminal case could be filed to the competent authority, for the confiscation and destruction of the infringed goods; while a civil case could be filed to the Civil Court for establishment of the infringement fact, suspension of the infringement act, destruction of the infringed goods, and compensation for damages and losses.