The fruit of your own hard work is the sweetest! And that’s what your brand is. And you would not want anyone else to eat it up. Trademark it to safeguard it! And to enjoy it all by yourself!
What is brand trademarking?
Your brand is not just your identity, but also a valuable asset to your business. Safeguarding it is your responsibility. Brand trademarking does exactly the same. Registering your brand name and trademark protects your business’s intellectual property as this gives you a universally-recognizable symbol, phrase, or word that represents your ownership of the product. Furthermore, it legally sets apart your offerings to the world from every other business that offers similar kinds of products or services. All in all, brand trademarking helps your audiences differentiate your supplies in the sea of other brands. Trademarks may or may not be registered and are symbolized by the ® and ™ respectively. It’s true that trademarks do not expire, but in order to keep them alive and to receive the protections allied with them, the owner must not stop using them regularly. If you are living under a rock, let us tell you that Apple, one of the Big Five American information technology companies, has registered over 1,000 trademarks so far for product logos, brand names, slogans and more – from AirPlay® to Finder® to Retina® to, of course, Apple® itself.
How not registering my brand for a trademark can harm my business?
When they start imitating you, consider you are popular! The ever-growing popularity of your brand can lure competitors to copy your products and marketing strategies. It’s pretty common when you work in a cut-throat business landscape. After all, tweaking an existing idea is both easier and more profitable than creating something from scratch. Having your brand trademarked is one of the powerful strategies to keep your business rivals from copying you. Registering your trademark will block competitors from poaching or stealing your customers by mirroring any element of your brand, including the colour of your product packaging if trademarked. It can also hedge your brand against the bad intentions of those wannabes or copycats.
One of the most unheeded, though vitally important, factors is utilising federal trademark law to safeguard your business and brand. You’ll be surprised to learn how these businesses made millions by cloning others. If you have not reserved rights to your brand name with a Federal Trademark Registration, be ready to face the consequences, such as:
- You can’t stop anyone from using your trademark because you don’t have a federal registration
- You can get sued for trademark infringement in case the name your business is registered under is a common or generic term
- Your competitor can divert your loyal as well as prospective customers to themselves by imitating your brand
- You may come across a situation when you will have to change your brand name or your website
- You won’t be able to sue the other party for stealing your identity as they registered a trademark on your brand name because you didn’t
In the light of the above-mentioned troubles that might crop up in the event of running a non-trademarked business, protecting your brand is just as imperative as establishing your brand.
Is it compulsory or legal to register a trademark?
The shortest answer to this question is – NO! You are not legally bound to register your trademark. True that getting your business officially registered as a trademark is not at all a legal requirement. Why would the government bother if you are adhering to the rules and regulations and staying compliant to stay out of any trouble – reputational, financial or legal. But you don’t own your brand without a trademark registration. But if you think you own your business name just because you named, established and grew it, enlighten yourself that your business name doesn’t give you rights on the name given by you. It can be stolen by your competitors, leaving you in the doldrums. If you don’t have a registered trademark, another party who has a registered trademark may have better rights to your business name or brand, and then use their trademark rights to compel you to change your business name or remove your URL. To be precise, in the absence of official trademark registration, using your business/company/brand name (or URL) is actually using it in an unprotected way even if you are complying with the legal obligations of operating your business activities, such as having the correct licences, paying taxes and abiding by consumer law, among other things. Therefore, it is always recommended to register your trademark. The practice will not only shield your business, but also bring you peace of mind.
Who can register a trademark in the UAE?
The goods and services receive legal protection only after registering a trade. Below are the entities who are eligible to register their trademark which protects their intellectual property across the UAE.
- Any individual
- Big or small companies/firms/organisations/corporations/enterprises
- Trade Unions
- Partnerships
- Other legal entities
How trademark registration can benefit my business?
You are not the only provider of a product or service of a specific kind. There are plenty of them. Today, consumers have tons of choices available at their disposal. Your product may be consumers’ first choice, but what if they are deceived by some other look-alikes of them? You can’t be physically present everywhere to tell your audiences how to distinguish between your product and your copycats’ but your trademark can. Trademarking promises security to the businesses while giving them ‘rights-on-their-own-creation” by converting it into an identifiable insignia, phrase, word, or symbol that connotes a specific product and legally differentiates it from all other products of its kind. A trademark can be defined as a type of intellectual property that protects recognizable signs, designs, or expressions of a product, service, or individual. These distinct marks or characteristics have an economic benefit that contributes to the brand they help create. As such, it is important for the trademark holders to gain some form of legal protection in order to ward off imitators and copycats. A trademark unites your employees, clients, and the bottom line of your organisation, paving the path for growth! It is remarkably simple to locate your business in the industry when you have a trademark! This expands the company’s profile and augments your client base. Your trademark’s worth can only grow as your brand’s popularity boosts. According to this law, an organisation or an entity may benefit from trademark protection after trademark registration. Registering a trademark maintains prior protection and enhances it and deters others from using your trademark, as well as increases the remedies should someone infringe upon the trademark. Let’s look at the advantages of registering a trademark and utilizing the IP services (in detail):
Trademarks are under the wing of law if registered
Just like business insurance protects your big or small business from unforeseen troubles and losses, registering a trademark also bodyguards your business from unpleasant incidents. Trademark registration in Dubai, UAE is a wise move every business person should take because it:
- Safeguards the registered company’s name or logo, which is often a company’s most valuable asset
- Lets the trademark owner enjoy unshared nationwide ownership of the mark
- Slashes the possibility of any existing infringement or counterfeiting against a third party’s mark
- Proposes official notice to other entities that a trademark already belongs to some other entity; hence, a company that thereafter adopts a confusingly matching trademark cannot claim unfamiliarity of the mark
- Enables the trademark owner to acquire the future right to make the mark “indisputable,” which delivers conclusive evidence regarding the validity of the mark and of the registrant’s exclusive right to use the mark
Others are discouraged to use an already taken trademark
By registering a trademark:
- The trademark owner acquires the right to put the symbol ®, after the mark, alerting others about their registration and preventing the defence of innocent infringement
- The trademark will come forth in trademark search reports ordered by others, probably deterring others from registering a comparable mark
- The Trademark Office will deny registration to any trademark that is deemed confusingly identical to the registered trademark
Trademark owners attain more significant remedies after registration
Registering a trademark:
- Grants the trademark owner the right to recuperate damages and compensation from the infringer
- Provides the trademark owner the belief of being the valid owner of the mark
- Boosts the odds of the successful filing of a dispute resolution policy for an infringing Internet domain name
- Offers the trademark owner a right to sue in the competent courts within a jurisdiction
Why hire a trademark advisor?
Hiring a trademark advisor pays you off well as they:
- Ensure you are making the proper filing decision at the outset of the filing process in terms of classification of goods and/or services and the mark’s shape and/or logo
- Render legal advice regarding the use of the trademark, filing an application, and the likelihood of success in the registration process, since not all applications proceed to registration.
- Provide a wide range of services and multiple registrations worldwide for your mark in a cost-effective manner without having the urge to hire an attorney in each country. States may offer free or greatly reduced services to financially under-resourced individuals and small businesses.
- File lawsuits, oppositions, appeals, counter-statements and act against counterfeiting and third-party infringement
- Conduct searches and monitor similar or identical marks and reserve your right for the mark in terms of priority of filing, examination, deadlines, renewals and use of the mark
Trademark Registration Documentation
Be ready to present the below-mentioned documents and details to file a trademark in the UAE:
- Logo of the trademark
- Passport copy
- Trade licence copy
- Fee payment invoice or proof
- Power of Attorney
- List of goods/products
- Applicant’s contact details
The applicant receives the following documents once the trademark is registered:
- Registration number of the trademark in the UAE
- Date of registration of the trademark
- Copy of the trademark
- List of goods
Need professional help?
Building a business is no less than playing Jenga, if you don’t make the right decisions at the initial stage to build a robust, sturdy foundation from the beginning, your “tower” or company, will be compromised and begin to lean over time! Trademarking your creations is the decision that you have to take at the right time and make it happen under the guidance of a trademark specialist only.
Adam Global Dubaiis the place to be if you are searching online “best intellectual property advisors near me” or googling “top intellectual property lawyers in Dubai”. With any one of our experienced intellectual property attorneys by your side you don’t have to worry about registering Trademark, Copyright, Patent, Trade Secret, Licensing, or any other Intellectual Property in Dubai, UAE connected to your business. Be it any business, from a beauty salon to digital marketing services to real estate to supermarket to e-commerce, our qualified trademark consultants can help you deal with any issues that are hindering your way to success. Feel free to visit us to consult anything business. We don’t charge your first consultancy with our experts.
