In the current digital-first world, safeguarding a brand is becoming more important due to copying, duplication, and counterfeits. Protecting intellectual property in UAE is a crucial aspect for every organization in the digital world. Especially with the increasing competition in the market and the risk of copying brand assets, safeguarding the brand reputation is furthermore necessary.
Protecting Intellectual Property in UAE is a very important step organizations must take to avoid duplication of their products and services by third-party providers. So how can we safeguard the Brands and your business processes? It is through Trademark Registrations, Copyrights, and Patents we can protect the Brand Value.
It helps to prevent the organization from copying and duplicating the works without permission. Hence, Include the copyright notice on all pages of the work as a preventive measure against illegal copying of the work. The company must register the copyright with the US Copyright Office to prove its ownership in court in case of a dispute. Copyright Protection is a vital component for Startups and Small Businesses to Protect their Business Ideas and any new creation in the field of music, art, writing, design, business model, etc.
Copyright Protection seems to be a faster process than Trademarking in terms of the number of days to complete the whole process.
On an ideal case, where everything is in place, trademarking typically takes a minimum of 3-4 months for the issuance of the Trademark Registration Certificate whereas Copyrights are issued with 15-20 days of submission.
This will help startups and small companies save time and avoid losing their ideas to big companies who can easily execute it into action as they have are no budget constraints.
Also, Copyrights offer long term protection for the Author, whereas the tenure for the trademark is only for 10 years. It has to then be re-registered to extend the validity of the Trademark Registration Certificate.
Copyright is protected across the world (167 countries). It gives your business idea or creation of global protection.
Copyright in terms of pricing is also much affordable than trademarking and is a smarter choice for startups.
Intellectual Property helps in providing legal protection to an organization in UAE. The tangible property helps in safeguarding the unique product ideas into reality by getting copied.
Also, the consultant helps in identifying assets and assist in filing the required IP protection paperwork effectively for the organization.
What are the ways to Protect Intellectual Property in UAE?
There are following four common ways to protect Intellectual property globally by registering or categorizing the brand assets into any of the four below parameters.- Copyrights
- Trademark
- Patents
- Trade Secrets
1. Copyrights
Copyrights are mainly for artists and written works. It includes literary works of fiction, non-fiction, paintings, drawings, etc.
It helps to prevent the organization from copying and duplicating the works without permission. Hence, Include the copyright notice on all pages of the work as a preventive measure against illegal copying of the work. The company must register the copyright with the US Copyright Office to prove its ownership in court in case of a dispute. Copyright Protection is a vital component for Startups and Small Businesses to Protect their Business Ideas and any new creation in the field of music, art, writing, design, business model, etc.
Copyright Protection seems to be a faster process than Trademarking in terms of the number of days to complete the whole process.
On an ideal case, where everything is in place, trademarking typically takes a minimum of 3-4 months for the issuance of the Trademark Registration Certificate whereas Copyrights are issued with 15-20 days of submission.
This will help startups and small companies save time and avoid losing their ideas to big companies who can easily execute it into action as they have are no budget constraints.
Also, Copyrights offer long term protection for the Author, whereas the tenure for the trademark is only for 10 years. It has to then be re-registered to extend the validity of the Trademark Registration Certificate.
Copyright is protected across the world (167 countries). It gives your business idea or creation of global protection.
Copyright in terms of pricing is also much affordable than trademarking and is a smarter choice for startups.
Benefits of Copyright Protection
- The Copyrighted Work is a public notice of your ownership.
- Acts as legal evidence for ownership
- As far as Copyright is valid, nobody else has the right to reproduce or copy your work.
- You will have the ability to file for copyright infringement if you find somebody is copying or reproducing your work.
Works that can be Copyrighted
The following intellectual works are protected under the copyrights law in the UAE- Books, Booklets, Articles, & Literature
- Computer Software and Applications, Databases, and similar works
- Recording or Text of Lectures, speeches, etc
- Theatre play, musicals, audio & video works
- Architectural plans and drawings
- Photographic work, graphics art, creatives, paintings, etc
2. Trademarks
Trademark will protect your brand assets such as taglines, pictures, logo, or combinations to identify the source of goods. Trademark Protection prevents others from using the brand assets that are trademark registered by a particular brand. There are different types or classes of trademark registration for companies that must consider while applying for a trademark in the UAE. Basically, in UAE it has a validity of 10 years. The Ministry of Economy has a dedicated wing that issues trademark registration certificates for organizations applying for a trademark in UAE. We will assist you in coordinating with the relevant Government Authorities to protect your intellectual properties in UAE at the lowest cost. Trademarks can be in any of the following forms like names, signature, words, logos, taglines, seals, etc. Trademark helps in establishing the complete ownership on all the organizational and marketing assets and avoid any duplications.Registration of a Trademark
In the UAE, the Ministry of Economy is the competent authority to register trademarks. Trademark Registration Documents Required- Trademark Logo
- A copy of the company business license
- Power of Attorney
- Passport copy
- Other attachments as required
3. Patents
Patent protection is for inventions man has made. A company can apply patent for a new type of machine, process, and materials. So, the company can submit the application for a patent to the US Patent and Trademark Office for approval. A Patent in UAE is granted for any new invention. Any innovative idea or improvements in the field of technology that has a scientific basis and can be applied in reality. The rapid economic development in the UAE in the field of information technology, communication, finance, and no oil sector has led to an important requirement for Patent Registration in the UAE. To protect the rights of small and medium enterprises and individuals in the field of technology especially, Patents become great use. International Center for Patent Registration (ICPR) under the Ministry of Economy is the competent authority to register patents in the UAE.4. Trade Secret
Trade Secret is the least secure way of protecting intellectual property. The company can also protect their idea of creation through Trade Secret. You can keep control of economic value as far as the secret is not disclosed by anyone.Steps to Follow for an Organization to protect their Brand Assists
Registration of patents and Trademarks; copyrighting the work and documenting a Trade Secret helps a long way for an organization to stay protected from others using the branding elements or assets without consent.
Intellectual Property helps in providing legal protection to an organization in UAE. The tangible property helps in safeguarding the unique product ideas into reality by getting copied.
How to Protect the Intellectual Property in the UAE?
Organizations can follow certain steps to protect their Intellectual Property and any innovative ideas that are economically viable for the organization to achieve higher business productivity. Also often certain ideas get leaked or shared with the outside world and get replicated by other players in the market. It leads to the loss of reputation of the organization that originally had introduced the concept. To avoid such instances, the organizations must follow certain steps to remain protected from counterfeiting and copying of ideas, products, or service models.1. Secure the Intellectual Property (IP)
The intellectual property must be secured in the organization. Hence, there must be restrictions to an employee who is accessing the brand assets. Thereby, the organization’s assets will remain secure within the organization, and the chances of the information or the details about the intellectual property leaking out can be eliminated.2. Awareness of the IP rights
Train the innovative team of the organization with the latest IP rights and the benefits of IP registration. Also, the team must prepare a robust policy to protect the organizational assets from getting duplicated in an unauthorized way. For the same, an expert IP Consultant will help in organizing the things in place.3. Engage an Expert Consultant
The expert consultant will help in preparing the framework to effectively record the asset and draft the policies that will help in safeguarding the company assets by protecting the IP.
Also, the consultant helps in identifying assets and assist in filing the required IP protection paperwork effectively for the organization.
