What Are the Legal Ways to Protect Your Intellectual Property in the UAE?

intellectual property

|

December 21, 2021

|

592 views


| Your comment matters, please click here to rate article!



Intellectual property covers any original ideas, designs, discoveries, inventions and creative work produced by an individual or group. Copyright, trademark, patent and design are a few of the most common types of IP protection.

The UAE has a strong IP regime and is a signatory to a range of international treaties on the recognition and enforcement of intellectual property rights, such as the Paris Convention covering patents and trademarks, Patent Cooperation Treaty for patents, the WIPO Convention and the TRIPS, the Gulf Cooperation Council for trademarks to name a few. The Intellectual property legislation of the UAE includes Patents and Industrial Design Law number 44 of 1992, Trademarks law number 37 as of 1992, Copyright and Neighboring Rights Law number 40 of 1992.

In this article, we will discuss the main legal methods that you can use in order to ensure heightened protection for your intellectual property rights:

Register and Protect your intellectual property rights:

The first step to take in the term of IP protection is to ensure that you are registering your IP within the territory of its use.

Copyright Registration

An original intellectual work in literary, arts of the scientific area, whatever its description, form of expression, significance or purpose, is protected under the Copyright law in the UAE. The ministry of economy in the UAE allows copyright registration, and once approved, the copyright remains valid for the entire lifetime of the owner and plus fifty (50) years following the death.

Trademark Registration

Trademarks constitute any distinctive marks such as names, letters, figures, logos, titles, hallmarks, pictures, patterns, sound marks, words that are used or intended to be used to distinguish goods, products or services. The ministry of economy in the UAE allows trademark registration, and once granted, the right exists for 10 (ten) years duration and can be renewed for a further time period.

Patent Registration

Patent protection and registration is allowed for any new invention that constitutes an innovative step or an improvement on an existing invention and has utility, industrial application in different fields of technology. The International Centre for Patent Registration (ICPR) under the Ministry of Economy is the competent authority to register patents in the UAE. Once granted, a patent is valid for a time period of twenty years from the date of filing.

Additional methods to protect our intellectual property rights:

  • Take proactive measures against infringement: IP owners should ensure to use additional measures to protect their products by taking enforcement actions through government agencies, including the ports and customs authorities. Such actions may include conducting market raids, confiscating counterfeit items, destroying seized counterfeit goods and other measures.
  • Protect trade secrets with strong NDA’s: Take legal advice in order to ensure that company’s trade secrets are always protected by entering into iron-clad non-disclosure agreements with anyone who had access to the said secrets by virtue of their role in the company. Ensuring that a legally enforceable NDA has been signed goes a long way in ensuring that the trade secrets remain protected.
  • Create IP awareness within the organization for heightened protection: Be it a company or private or governmental organization, every entity deals with intellectual property in one way or the other. It is often seen that IP violations can occur within the organization itself, due to the lack of awareness of the intellectual property laws and regulations. It is also seen that quite often, confidentiality protection and non-disclosure agreements are signed on paper but never practiced in reality. Such lackluster actions can cause potential entity losses, and hence corrective measures should be taken.

IP Protection is necessary not only to protect innovations but also as a means to incentivize the creator or owner of the intellectual property, allowing them the rights to profit from the said innovation to the exclusion of all others. Strategic and proactive legal measures are therefore required in order to ensure heightened protection of your intellectual property.

Related Links


Copyright © of this article is retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. We explicitly grant you permission to download a copy, without any alteration, of this article for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or any charge. This article can be utilized on your website or for marketing, however, we grant you permission to host this article on your website and no other rights. This content should not be altered in any way or sold commercially in any format without prior permission of the copyright holder. During reference of this article, full biographic details entailing the name of the author, his designation, the institute and the publishing date of the article shall be provided.


Comments

No comments found.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Want to know more?
Then talk to us.


Client Testimonials

I owe the success of my case to Dr. Hassan's diligent approach. He remained focused, put me at ease and always went the extra mile. Dr. Hassan tirelessly put my case in the best possible light and I cannot thank him enough. I would highly recommend Dr. Hassan - I am grateful to him from the bottom of my heart.

Raphael Lauria
Manager, FME General Trading

Dr. Hassan Elhais is among the best legal consultants I have ever worked with. He has an amazing ability to reduce complex issues into a simple concept that non-legal people can understand. He consistently develops innovative litigation strategies that help us to achieve our ultimate legal goals.

Zhuo Liu
Client

...the extraordinary effort that has been exerted by the staff, and we specially thank Dr. Hassan Mohsen Alhais. Wishing your continues success & excellence...

H.H. Sheikh Saeed Bin
Mohammed Hashir Al Maktoum

I believe everyone should recognize what a difference Dr. Hassan Elhais work has made to people's lives; and especially to our family's life, because we will remain forever grateful to each and every one of his team.

Luis Pozueco
Client

Dr. Hassan Elhais never fears cases that involve exposure and he always gives me his honest assessment of our chances of success, which is invaluable to me.

Bassam Yamout
Director, JM Metal Trading LCC

He aided us not only in providing legal advice but also in all legal issues that required a long term strategic approach to achieve most favorable and optimum outcomes he provided us with high level of professional service.

Philippe Delbecq
Client

Dr. Hassan Elhais is a responsible, reputable counsel who operates to high levels of service.

British Client

Dr Hassan Elhais is responsive, thorough and creative with his advice, and is a valued advisor and legal consultant.

Asma Mattar
Manager, Italian Style

Regardless of the complexity of the matter I know Dr. Hassan Elhais will consider not only legal strategy but also business practicalities in providing advice and litigation options.

Dr. Massimo Hakim
Chairman, Italian Style

I recommend Dr. Hassan Elhais to anyone who says 'I'm in legal trouble'. I was extremely satisfied with the high standard of his work. He has always been there when I have needed him and I refer all my clients, family and friends to him/his firm.

Manish Gupta
Marketing Manager, Express Digital System

Dr. Hassan Elhais was very professional and he listened to my needs. He was very prompt, efficient and always kept me informed. Dr. Hassan Elhais's service was excellent and I would definitely recommend him to friends and colleagues.

James Horsley
British Client

Select your Language:

        

Main Menu