Intellectual Property in UAE

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Intellectual Property
To start with this topic of Intellectual Property in the country UAE it must be stated that
Intellectual Property has a vast range. Several law are involved in this regard which
guarantees the rights of the owner of an Intellectual Property. Intellectual Property in the
country UAE may be defined as an original product of human creativity and intelligence
which has a value in the market. For this reason it must be protected by law. In the country
UAE Intellectual Property means innovative and creative ideas, literary works, logos,
products, goods. If a particular business wants to establish an identity which can either be
nationally or internationally then steps should be taken to protect it. Nowadays Intellectual
Property rights has become an issue of global concern, which has a huge effect in every field
like commerce, environment, labour, culture. Intellectual Property also has a huge effect in
technological as well as investment spheres. Therefore, it is necessary to avail Intellectual
Property Rights for a particular business in UAE. (Price, David, and Alhanoof AlDebasi
2017)
As stated above the Intellectual Property has a very wide range therefore many rights
come under the single head of Intellectual Property. Intellectual Property rights in the country
UAE can be divided into three parts. They are Patents rights, Copyrights and Trademarks
Patents rights: In the country UAE patent is a right which is granted to the inventors
of a particular work for the inventions done by him. This can include equipment, software,
technology, tools. The protection of Patent in the country UAE is governed by Federal Law
Number 17 of the year 2002 which was again amended by Federal Law Number 31 of the
year 2006. A Patent right is protected for twenty years. After twenty years the Patent right
must be renewed to protect the exclusive rights attached with it, otherwise the exclusive
rights attached with it and the market value of the particular Patent in the country UAE will

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be exhausted thereby making it a problem for the owner of the particular Patent in the country
UAE.
Copyrights: Copyrights in the country UAE protects the authors in relation to
intellectual property rights like television programmes, books, radio programmes, photos,
paintings, software. In the country UAE Copyright can be registered in accordance with the
Federal Law Number 7 of the Year 2002. Copyright should be a result of a creative or
intellectual work which must be expressed in the form of any object. Copyright is protected
for fifty years in the country of UAE. After fifty years the Copyright must be renewed to
protect the exclusive rights attached with it, otherwise the exclusive rights attached with it
and the market value of the particular Copyright in the country UAE will be exhausted
thereby making it a problem for the owner of the particular Copyright in the country UAE. If
the owner of Copyright is a biological person then Copyright will be calculated in accordance
with the rule which is stated in the Copyright Law of the country UAE.
Trademarks
Definition: According to the Federal Law number 37 of the year 1992 on
Trademarks , it can be stated that trademark is any different type of name, word, logo, figure,
signature, letter, graphics, seal, pattern, title, picture, hallmark, announcement, and any other
type of marks if they are used to distinguish goods and products from any source, or to
specify that a particular goods or products belong to a particular owner of that trademark. By
Article 2 of UAE Trademark Law 2002 (amended) it can be stated that trademark is a
different form of word, logo, name, letter, figure, signature, picture, seal, hallmark, graphics,
tax, stamp or any other symbol. A trademark is therefore put on some specific goods for a
particular enterprise so that it can be differentiated from all the other goods which are

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identical to it which are offered by its competitors thereby giving the particular product a
unique symbol. (Alfadhel et al. 2017). Gulf Cooperation Council has made a Unified
Trademark Law for the Region of Gulf can be implemented on all its member countries
which includes Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates.
(Iqbal, et al.2015).
Bass Brewery’s label which incorporates a triangle logo for ale was the first
Trademark which was registered in the Trade Mark Registration Act 1875 in the Ministry of
Economy in the country UAE.
Trademark was first used in Middle Ages in some specific trading and manufacturing
companies. People in Italy and France were used to with putting their names on the products
of their company. During that time there were two purposes of use trademarks. The first
purpose was to brand trademarks which were had been used on animals, which were used to
indicate ownership. The second purpose of trademarks was that it was used by traders and
manufacturers to identify the products of their company and thereby to guarantee the
originality and quality of the products of that particular company. Use of trademarks was a
legal commitment then which must be used by every manufacturer and trader so that they can
trace their products. (https://government.ae/en/information-and-services/business/intellectual-
property)
Service Trademark: Service trademarks are different from normal trademarks. In case of
Service Trademarks, the trademark is used to distinguish tools or equipment which is used to
provide the service to a particular enterprise.
There are several advantages of owning a trademark. They are as follows:
Firstly, trademark being an asset is precious to its owner.