INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW

  • 4 Major Types of Intellectual Properties in UAE
  • This intellectual property in UAE is used to secure inventive processes or ideas which are useful, new and no-nonsense. …
  • Unlike patents, a trademark protects phrases, words, sounds, symbols, color schemes and smells etc.
  • Copyright
  • Trade Secrets

Registration of trademarks in the UAE is accomplished by means of an application to the Trade Mark Section of the Ministry of Economy and Commerce. By investing in such protection, a company will obtain exclusivity over the rights, which means being able to protect others from using the same right.

The Intellectual property legislation of the UAE includes Patents and Industrial Designs Law number 44 of 1992 (as amended), Trademarks law number 37 as of 1992, Copyright and Neighboring Rights Law number 40 of 1992. The Trademark Section serves Trademarks under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy.

Intellectual Property law deals with laws to protect and enforce the rights of the creators and owners of inventions, writing, music, designs and other works, known as the “intellectual property.” There are several areas of intellectual property including copyright, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets.

There is no federally applicable data protection law in the UAE. There are no specific laws governing the processing of personal data by public sector institutions. Article 378 of the Penal Code provides that it is a criminal offence to publish personal data which relates to an individual’s private or family life.

If an organization in the UAE processes personal data and offers goods or services to individuals based in the EU, they are required to be compliant with the GDPR. Similarly, this applies to organizations in the UAE that have an establishment in the EU and are processing personal data in that establishment.

The UAE does not have a comprehensive data privacy law at its federal level and there is no single national data privacy regulator.  However, the UAE has a number of special economic or sector free zones, three of which have specific data privacy laws: The Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and the Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC). 

In addition, the UAE has a number of laws to govern privacy and data security in the UAE across public sectors, financial services (Central Bank of the UAE) and in the healthcare sector.  There are also sector-specific data protection provisions in certain laws.  These laws require data subjects to provide consent to the transfer of personal data to third parties inside or outside the UAE, and prohibit the transfer of data to jurisdictions with less stringent requirements. This includes other parts of the UAE outside the respective free zones.