In a nutshell: Intellectual Property in the UAE | Al Rowaad Advocate and Counsel

The term “intellectual property” means any creation of the human intellect. It includes ideas, inventions, designs and discoveries that can be used to earn recognition and financial gain. The most common examples of intellectual property rights are copyrights, patents, and trademarks.

Protecting intellectual property is essential in today’s world to guarantee its continued growth and development. The UAE has a strong intellectual property regime, influenced by international treaties such as the TRIPS Agreement and the WIPO Convention, to which the UAE is a signatory.

copyright: copyright Federal Decree No. 38 of 2021 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights. It includes innovative works in literature, music, drama, architecture, photography, computer programs, speeches and lectures, audiovisual works, derivative works, and more. Thus, authors and creators can protect their works for life and an additional 50 years (Article 20 of the Copyright Act).

Authors and creators and their successors in general have moral rights under Section 5 of the Copyright Act, which include:

1. The right to determine the first publication of a work
2. The right to claim parentage with respect to a work
3. Right to Prohibit Modification of Works
4. The right to request circulation of works with just cause

Where an author’s work is published or displayed without permission, the author may request the relevant department to take the measures stipulated in Article 35 of the Copyright Law:

1. stop posting
2. Temporary Seizure of Copies of Works
3. Temporary seizure of income from publication or exhibition
4. To certify public performances of works and prevent ongoing demonstrations

trademark: According to the definition of trademark in Article 2 of Federal Decree No. 36 of 2021, a trademark is any name, word, signature, number, drawing, picture, color or color combination, 3D or hologram mark, etc. Goods of a particular origin are distinguished from other goods, services or performance of services.

A trademark needs to be legally registered for the owner to prevent third parties from using it. The term of protection begins as soon as the application for registration is filed and is limited to 10 years (Article 21 of the Trademark Act), unless renewed.

In order to avoid infringement of its rights, the trademark owner may apply to the court with jurisdiction to take the following measures in accordance with the provisions of Article 47 of the Trademark Law:

1. A description of the infringing activity, the subject matter of the infringement, the materials and tools used
2. Seizure of materials and tools
3. Prevent goods from entering commercial routes and prevent their export
4. retain any evidence relating to the infringing subject matter

Industrial Property: Federal Law No. 11 of 2021 on the Regulation and Protection of Industrial Property governs patents, as well as designs, integrated circuits, inventions, utility certificates and other industrial property rights. Patents are granted to protect inventions that are inventive and have industrial applicability. There is a similar situation with certificates of utility, for less inventive but industrially applicable inventions.

Utility certificates are valid for 10 years, while patents are valid for 20 years from the date of filing the application (Article 18 of the Industrial Property Law).

Pursuant to Article 19 of the Industrial Property Law, the holder of a patent or utility model certificate is entitled to exploit the invention and, if the invention is proprietary, to exploit the process of its creation. He may do so by making, using, selling or importing.

penalty: Under Section 39 of the Copyright Act, if the rights of a copyright owner are violated, those found guilty may be sentenced to two months in prison and may be fined up to Dh100,000.

If patents and trademarks are obtained through falsification of documents, according to Article 69 of the Industrial Property Law and Article 49 of the Trademark Law, they are punishable by imprisonment and a fine of up to Dh1 million, respectively.

compensation: In the event that any moral or economic rights of the copyright owner are violated, they may seek compensation from the court in accordance with Article 43 of the Copyright Law.

Trademark proprietors may also file claims for compensation for violations of their statutory rights under Article 48 of the Trademark Law, and similarly, patentees and other industrial property owners may claim compensation under Article 67 of the Industrial Property Law. File a claim for compensation for violations of their rights.