Tips for Brand Owners to Leverage 100% Benefits Out of their Trademarks

The benefits of conducting trademark registration in the UAE are plenty and the process is also critical for your brand’s success. A protected trademark can shield your brand from your competitors, trademark infringers and counterfeiters. A registered trademark is a key to building trust among consumers and gaining their loyalty, which will eventually be translated into huge profits. However, to leverage 100% of these benefits you need to follow certain basic trademark tips. Here are some tips for brand owners to leverage 100% benefits out of their trademarks:

File Your Wordmarks First

While applying for trademark registration in the UAE, it’s critical not to forget to file the wordmarks. Wordmarks offer the broadest protection and you can also use them as part of your logo. Even though visual marks such as a logo can be easily recognised by consumers, wordmarks are necessary to keep your brand’s name registered in the minds of your target customers and the general public. Logos are also important, but remember that the consumers tend to associate the logo with a brand name.

It means consumers associate a visual mark with a wordmark and imagine what happens if the wordmark is not protected. Chances are high your competitors may come up with wordmarks that are confusingly similar to yours. Things may go out of hand if they seek protection for a similar wordmark before you does. Talk to the best trademark agents in Dubai to develop a robust trademark strategy for your brand names.

Use Madrid Protocol for International Registration

File your trademarks in international territories as soon as possible. Since the UAE has become a party to the Madrid Protocol since the fag end of 2021, filing trademarks in foreign countries has become easy for the local brand owners. The Madrid Protocol enables the brand owners to file a trademark in over 122 territories through a single filing, in a single language using a single set of fees. However, the timing of your Madrid Protocol trademark registration is critical.

You must apply for trademark registration in foreign jurisdictions at least a year before using your trademark there. This is because the IP offices in some designated member countries may take at least 18 months to examine the trademark. If the application gets rejected after 18 months, the money you spent on promoting the brand in that country will go to waste. Consult with trademark agents in Dubai to determine when to file your trademarks in international jurisdictions.

Select strong and distinctive trademarks

Before applying for trademark registration in the UAE, ensure that you select a strong one. A weak trademark is hard to enforce and is unregistrable in many jurisdictions. Determining the strength of a trademark is a critical process and must be carried out meticulously. According to International Trademark Association (INTA), the strength of a trademark can be determined by assessing how easily the consumers recognise it as a trademark. A strong or distinctive trademark is easy to register and protect from infringement by others compared to a weaker trademark.

Generic and descriptive trademarks are considered weaker and hence must be avoided. A generic trademark refers to common terms associated with a product (filing the word CLOCK as a trademark for a timepiece brand), while a descriptive trademark directly describes the quality of a product (COLD and CREAMY for ice cream brands). Instead, you can use strong trademark types such as Fanciful trademarks (coined words such as GOOGLE, XEROX etc.) and Arbitrary marks (APPLE for a phone brand).

Conduct a proper trademark search before applying

Skipping on trademark search services in the UAE for saving costs is a pitfall that brand owners must avoid. Even though it’s not mandatory to conduct a trademark search in the UAE, it’s highly advisable to perform it to avoid infringing the trademark rights of other parties. Before filing a trademark application in the UAE, you need to search the official trademark database to ensure that the already registered trademarks are not similar to your proposed mark.

If you skip the process and your proposed mark is confusingly similar to a registered trademark, the other trademark owner can file an opposition against you. If the opposition has merit, your trademark application may get rejected. Therefore, ignoring trademark searches can cost you money and time. Only trademark agents in Dubai can help you with the trademark search process for both National applications and Madrid Protocol applications.

File your trademarks under multiple classes

You need to properly describe the goods or services associated with your trademark while filing your application. For this, you need to file the marks in relevant classes as per the NICE Classification system. There are 45 classes of goods and services in the NICE List and you must file the trademarks under multiple classes as well. Filing the trademarks under the wrong classes would create brand confusion and failing to file in multiple classes would prompt your competitors to infringe your mark. Trademark agents in Dubai can guide you in selecting the right classes for your trademark.

How can Jitendra Intellectual Property Help you?

Applying for trademark registration in the UAE will turn out to be a waste of money and time if you ignore the key tips mentioned here. These are some critical processes that will help you get 100% out of your trademark. Executing these processes is not a complex thing as trademark agents in Dubai such as Jitendra Intellectual Property (JIP) can guide you.

JIP is one of the most experienced IP firms in Dubai dedicated to ensuring trademark protection for brand owners. Our agents are highly qualified and well-versed in the UAE trademark procedures and the Madrid Protocol process. JIP can ensure trademark protection for your brands through the National Trademark system as well as Madrid Protocol for International Trademark registration.