Registering a trademark in the UAE: process, fees and timing

A UAE trademark is registered with the federal Ministry of Economy and Tourism, which took that name in 2025 and was previously the Ministry of Economy. The process runs online, costs AED 6,500 per class in official fees if nothing goes wrong, and gives you 10 years of protection counted from the day you file. Most of the work that decides whether it succeeds happens before you file: choosing a mark that can be registered and checking that nobody got there first.

This is general information, not legal advice. For a valuable brand or a contested mark, use a registered trademark agent or a lawyer.

What you can and can't register

Federal Decree-Law No. 36 of 2021 on Trademarks defines a mark broadly: names, words, letters, numbers, logos, colours, packaging, three-dimensional shapes, holograms, and even a distinctive sound or smell. What matters is that it distinguishes your goods or services from someone else's.

The law also lists signs that can't be registered. The ones that catch founders most often:

• Descriptive or generic words. A name that only describes what you sell, such as "Fresh Bakery" for bread, has no distinctive character.
• Marks close to an existing one. If an identical or similar mark is already filed or registered for the same or related goods or services, expect a refusal.
• Copies or translations of well-known marks. An Arabic rendering of a famous foreign brand is not a loophole, because the law also bars translations of well-known marks.
• Other people's names and trade names, national flags and official emblems, religious symbols, and place names that mislead about where goods come from.

Ownership follows registration. The law treats whoever registers a mark as its owner, and once a mark has been registered and used for five years without challenge, ownership can no longer be disputed unless it was registered in bad faith. A business that used the mark first can ask the ministry to cancel someone else's registration, but only within five years of that registration. File early instead of relying on prior use.

The trade name on your licence, approved by DET or your free zone, is a separate registration and gives you no trademark rights. Before you commit to a name, run the ministry's trademark search. It costs AED 350 and gives an immediate result, but a clean search does not guarantee acceptance.

How registration works, step by step

You apply through the ministry's website or smart app.

1. Prepare the application. You need a clear JPEG of the mark, the goods or services it will cover and their classes, and your trade licence if you apply as a company. UAE-based individuals don't need a licence, and free zone companies apply like any other UAE applicant.
2. File and pay the examination fee. Classes follow the international classification of goods and services, so a clothing label that also runs a café needs at least two: one for the clothes, one for the café service. One application can cover several classes, but fees are charged per class.
3. Examination. The ministry checks the mark against existing filings and the law, and can accept it, refuse it or accept it on conditions. If it asks for changes, reply within 30 days or the application is treated as abandoned.
4. Publication. Once accepted, pay the publication fee. The mark appears in the ministry's online Trademark Bulletin, issued twice a month.
5. Objection window. Anyone with an interest has 30 days from the bulletin date to object.
6. Registration. If nobody objects, pay the registration fee within 30 days after the window closes, and the ministry issues your certificate.

If you are based outside the UAE, you must file through a registered trademark agent, with a power of attorney that is notarised, legalised and translated into Arabic. If the examiner refuses your mark, you can file a grievance within 30 days of being notified.

What it costs, as of October 2026

The ministry's fees for a one-class application:

Examination, publication and registration add up to AED 6,500 for each class, so a three-class application costs AED 19,500 in government fees. Late payment adds fines: AED 100 a month (up to AED 1,000 a year) on a late publication fee, and AED 1,000 a month (up to AED 10,000 a year) on a late registration fee. Members of the National SME Programme get 50% off trademark service fees. Agent fees, translation and attestation of a power of attorney come on top.

How long it takes

The ministry's service pages quote between 20 and 45 working days for the examination decision. After that come publication, the 30-day objection window and the registration step, so even a smooth application takes months rather than weeks. An objection adds a reply period, a hearing and possibly a grievance, and the ministry quotes an average of 60 working days for its objection service.

Protection runs from the filing date, not the date of the certificate, which is one more reason to file before launch. If you filed the same mark in another Paris Convention country within the last six months, you can claim that earlier date as priority.

Arabic versions of your mark

If your mark includes words in a language other than Arabic, the application must include a certified Arabic translation that shows how the mark is pronounced. That comes from the implementing regulation, Cabinet Decision No. 57 of 2022, so decide the Arabic spelling yourself rather than leaving it to a translator at filing time.

Your registration protects the mark as filed, and marks similar enough to confuse customers. Whether an Arabic version of your name counts as similar is not something you want to argue later. If you will use an Arabic name on signage, packaging or an Arabic website, consider registering it too, on its own or in a combined Latin and Arabic logo.

Check how the name sounds and reads in Arabic before you print anything. Our brand design team designs bilingual names and logos as one system, and our guide to building a bilingual Arabic and English website covers the website side.

Protecting your brand before launch

• File before you spend. Register before you print packaging, order signage or start marketing campaigns. A rebrand after launch costs far more than a filing.
• Cover the classes you will use. List the goods and services you plan to offer over the next few years. Each class costs money, but a gap costs more if someone else fills it.
• Secure the rest at the same time. Domain names and social media handles are not part of trademark registration. Our guide to building a startup's online presence covers the order to secure them in.
• Think beyond the UAE. The UAE has joined the Madrid Protocol. With a UAE application or registration, you can extend protection to other member countries through the ministry and WIPO, paying an AED 400 ministry fee plus WIPO's own fees.
• Use it and renew it. Anyone with an interest can ask the ministry to cancel a mark that has not been used for five consecutive years. Renew in the final year of the 10-year term, or within six months after it, when the renewal fee rises from AED 5,750 to AED 6,500.

Common mistakes

• Filing in a founder's personal name when the company will use the brand, then finding the gap during an investor's due diligence. Decide the owner first; our guide to choosing a legal form in Dubai helps if the company structure isn't settled.
• Picking a descriptive name and spending months arguing with the examiner.
• Missing a 30-day deadline, whether for replying to the examiner, paying the publication fee or paying the registration fee.
• Registering only the logo when the word mark is what customers say and search for.
• Leaving the Arabic translation to the last minute and ending up with a spelling you would never use.

If you want help choosing and checking a name before you file, talk to our team.

Sources

• Ministry of Economy and Tourism: Trademark registration service
• Ministry of Economy and Tourism: Renewing a trademark registration
• Ministry of Economy and Tourism: Objecting to a trademark registration
• Ministry of Economy and Tourism: International registration under the Madrid Protocol
• Ministry of Economy and Tourism: Trademark service fees announcement, October 2025
• Federal Decree-Law No. 36 of 2021 on Trademarks (English translation, PDF)