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World
Intellectual Property - IP Laws - United Arab Emirates
Trade
marks versus trade names:
As a general
rule in the UAE, there is no difference between the Economic Department
or Municipalities and the Trade Mark Registry in terms of clearing
the trade names against the trade marks. As a result trade
marks often compete with company names as identifiers of the origin
of goods and services. This has created confusion in relation
to who owns the actual right to use the name. For example,
in the case of two groups of fashion and clothing industry, one
group had registered a brand against retail services and opened
various outlets. The other group had been operating in the
market place for a number of years and decided to re-brand itself,
creating a new image and using a name identical to the one group's
brand as its trade name and launched a marketing campaign through
various media across the region, to announce its change of name.
At this
stage, the brand owner of first group had three options: (1) to
write to the group informing of the situation and requesting that
they re-brand which involves a costly procedure, (2) initiate court
action on the basis of trade mark infringement which is a lengthy
procedure and (3) seek the assistance of the relevant government
department to have the group name changed. Practically, option
3 is the most time and cost-efficient one inviting both the parties
to come to a negotiable table. However if there is no amicable
solution, the authority can refuse to renew the trade licence of
the party which has adopted the similar trade name. In UAE,
it is considered to be a good practice in order to avoid trade-name
disputes and a costly re-branding exercise which potentially saves
a lot of money.
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FIRM.COM - Online IPR Law Firm, India – Trade Marks, Copyright Registration,
Delhi, India
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