A founder collects a new trade licence in Dubai, with the company name printed across the top, and assumes the brand is now protected. It is not. The licence protects a company name in one register. It does nothing to stop another business filing the same brand, or the logo, as a trademark with the federal government, and then using it across all seven emirates.
For founders from Africa this gap matters more than most. Many arrive with a brand that already has a following at home: a coffee label, a restaurant name, a fashion line, a consultancy. A trademark registered in Addis Ababa or Nairobi does not travel. In the UAE, protection starts only when the mark is registered here, and every month of waiting gives someone else the chance to file first.
This guide explains how UAE trademark registration works under the current federal law, how classes are chosen, what the search, examination, publication and opposition stages involve, how long protection lasts, and how an African brand can use the Madrid system to protect itself in the Gulf.
A trade name is not a trademark
The two are registered by different authorities and do different jobs. A trade name is the legal name of your company. It is approved by the licensing authority when you form the company, whether that is the economic department of the emirate on the mainland or the free zone authority, and it must carry the legal form, such as LLC or FZ-LLC. As the UAE Government portal puts it, the local economic department registers the trade name, while the Ministry registers the trademark.
A trademark is a sign that tells customers which business goods or services come from. It can be a word, a logo, letters, figures, a label or a combination, and it is registered with the Ministry of Economy and Tourism for the whole federation. Your company can be called one thing and trade under a brand that is quite different, and it is the brand that customers remember.
| Question | Trade name | Trademark |
|---|---|---|
| Who registers it | The emirate's economic department or the free zone authority | The federal Ministry of Economy and Tourism |
| What it identifies | The legal entity that holds the licence | The source of goods or services, under a brand |
| Legal basis | Licensing rules of the relevant authority | Federal Decree-Law No. 36 of 2021 on Trademarks |
| How long it lasts | Renewed with the licence | Ten years from the filing date, renewable |
The law and the authority
Trademarks in the UAE are governed by Federal Decree-Law No. 36 of 2021 on Trademarks, which came into force on 2 January 2022 and replaced the 1992 trademark law. Its executive regulations were issued by Cabinet decision in 2022. Applications go to the Ministry of Economy and Tourism, which examines each mark to check that it is not identical or confusingly similar to one already registered.
Anyone may apply, whether a company or an individual. A company applies with its trade licence. Applicants based outside the UAE must file through a trademark agent registered with the Ministry.
Choosing your classes
Every application names the goods or services the mark will cover, grouped under the Nice Classification, the international system run by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It has 45 classes: 34 for goods and 11 for services. The current edition, the 13th, came into force on 1 January 2026, according to WIPO.
A few examples show why this needs thought. Roasted coffee sits in class 30, but a café serving it falls under class 43. Clothing is class 25. Advertising and business management services are class 35. A coffee exporter that plans to open a café in Dubai needs both classes 30 and 43, and a brand that plans to sell merchandise may need more. Protection covers only the classes you file in, and official fees are charged per class, so the choice is both legal and commercial. Our cost estimator covers company setup costs; ask your trademark agent for filing costs by class.
The licence protects your company's name in one register. Only a trademark protects the brand your customers know.
From search to certificate: the steps
- Search first. The Ministry offers a trademark inquiry service, and a registered agent can run a fuller search for similar marks, not only identical ones. A clearance search before you print packaging or sign a lease is sensible insurance.
- File the application online through the Ministry, with an image of the mark, the classes and goods or services, the trade licence where the applicant is a company, and a notarised power of attorney if an agent files for you.
- Examination. The law gives the Ministry 90 days to decide, and the Ministry's service page sets a target of 20 days. If the examiner asks for changes or raises an objection, the applicant has 30 days to respond, or the application is treated as abandoned. A refusal can be appealed within 30 days.
- Publication. An accepted mark is published in the Ministry's official trademark bulletin.
- Opposition. Any interested party has 30 days from publication to file an objection. Practitioners note that this period cannot be extended.
- Registration. If there is no successful opposition, the registration is completed and the certificate is issued within 30 days of the end of the opposition period.
How long protection lasts, and how to keep it
A UAE trademark is protected for ten years from the date the application was filed, and it can be renewed for further ten-year periods. Put the renewal date in your compliance calendar on the day the certificate arrives.
Registration is not the end of the work. Under the law, an interested party can apply to cancel a mark that has not been used for five consecutive years, so a mark you register and never use is vulnerable. It is also worth watching the Ministry's bulletin, or asking your agent to, so that you can oppose a similar mark within the 30-day window rather than fight it after registration.
Protecting an African brand in the Gulf
Trademarks are territorial. A registration in Ethiopia, Kenya or Nigeria protects the brand there and nowhere else, and there is no single registration that covers all six Gulf states. An African business planning to sell in the Gulf has three questions to answer: which markets matter first, which classes, and which route to use.
The law also recognises a right of priority. An applicant who first filed in a country that is party to the Paris Convention, or that has an agreement with the UAE, can claim that earlier filing date for a UAE application made within six months. For a brand about to launch in the Gulf, that six-month window is worth knowing about when you file at home.
The Madrid Protocol route
The UAE joined the Madrid Protocol, WIPO's international trademark system, with effect from 28 December 2021. Madrid lets a brand owner file one international application, through its home trademark office and based on a home application or registration, and designate the countries where it wants protection. Each designated country then examines the mark under its own law.
In the Gulf, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the UAE are members, and Saudi Arabia joins with effect from 8 October 2026. Kuwait is not a member. On the African side, WIPO's list of members as at July 2026 includes Kenya, Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and OAPI, the regional office for much of francophone West and Central Africa. Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda were not on that list. Ethiopia's Council of Ministers approved joining in 2024, but until its membership takes effect, Ethiopian brand owners cannot file a Madrid application through their home office and should file directly in the UAE through a registered agent.
Madrid is efficient for a brand entering several markets at once, but it has one important weakness. For the first five years, the international registration depends on the home application or registration. If the home mark falls, the international protection can fall with it. A lawyer can tell you whether a direct UAE filing, a Madrid designation, or both, suits your brand.
How And Again Advisory helps
We set up the company behind the brand: the structure, the trade name, the licence activities and the activation that follows, including visas, Emirates ID, a corporate bank account and compliance registrations. We make sure the trade name and the activities fit the brand you intend to build, and we raise trademark protection early in the process.
We do not file trademarks or give legal advice on them. Filing, searches and oppositions are work for a registered trademark agent or an intellectual property lawyer, and we coordinate with licensed partners where you need one. If you are planning to exhibit, our UAE trade shows calendar helps you time the filing before your first stand, and our guide for Ethiopian exporters covers the wider market entry.
Final thought: register the brand, not just the company
Founders put months into a brand and minutes into protecting it. In the UAE, the cost of that imbalance can be losing the right to your own name in your largest market. A clearance search, the right classes and an early filing are modest steps. Take them before the brand is visible, and the brand you built at home stays yours in the Gulf.
