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The term “unregistered” means that these trademarks exist but are not legally registered, and no protection is offered for them – yet!

Trademark registration is necessary for any company that avoids economic risks associated with an unregistered trademark.

The absence of exclusive rights provides an opportunity for competitors who “parasitize” on the popularity and business reputation built up around the brand to enter the market. As a result, a bona fide manufacturer suffers losses associated with lost sales profits and a decline in consumer confidence as competitors may produce inferior goods.

Another person may obtain exclusive rights in the designation, and a bona fide manufacturer may lose the ability to use the disputed mark. It is common in the practice of law for such registration to be made for the very purpose of blocking the business of others.

In the past, companies registered trademarks to protect themselves from imitators and fraudsters. Today, however, this practice has been reversed, as many of these registrations are now used for nefarious purposes by people who have no intention of using them commercially. Trademarks are accumulated to make claims or sell the rights to bona fide and successful entrepreneurs who did not seek a certificate promptly. These companies carefully monitor the infringement of their rights, and when the use of a disputed mark reaches a significant volume, they make claims and receive substantial compensation.

Addressing the global internet is an important aspect of leveraging a brand. Over time, consumers will begin to search for information about your product. If they visit a website with similar products or domains as yours but different prices, you may miss out on customers making the wrong choice.

It is unintentionally using an unregistered trademark that can’t be registered. Trademark infringement is a widespread occurrence for many businesses who do not understand the legal implications of trademark rights and how to protect themselves.

A business or individual may unknowingly use unregistrable trademarks that are generic, offensive, or descriptive and cannot be registered to represent your business properly. Therefore, when creating brand names, it is extremely important to ensure that they only deal with companies that have proper registration so that there is no confusion over ownership and customer satisfaction remains high at all times.

When a company or business owner uses unregistered marks, it bears the risk of not deriving any financial benefit from selling the unregistered mark separate from its business.

In terms of enforcement, it isn’t easy to secure your rights with an unregistered trademark. For example, suppose an unfair competitor steals your unregistered mark and uses it to identify their goods or has created a mark similar to your unregistered mark. In that case, it will be difficult for you to provide evidence and gather proof instead of whether the mark was registered. You will need to prove that using an unregistered mark has gained some notoriety through sales, marketing strategies, and geographic scaling. Even if you have provided evidence of awareness of an unregistered mark, you must remember that third parties can easily challenge it.

If the trademark is unregistered, the law cannot help preventing illegal acts by third parties against unregistered marks and refer the mark by such acts as including the unregistered mark in a trademark compendium or dictionaries or use in newspaper articles or books or other publications by those who are not competitors of the mark. Some legislations allow trademark owners to require third parties to use the mark properly.

Although the law in many countries does not require mandatory trademark registration, leaving this matter to the discretion of business owners, you could find yourself in legal trouble down the road if someone or some other business uses the same name, symbol, logo on products, or services as your business. So if you want to be legally protected as a business, why not register a trademark? It’s better to go for a trademark than to take the risk.

A trademark can be anything from words to graphic representations (usually a logo) representing a company, product, or service from a legal perspective. The first thing you need to understand when you ask yourself, “Do I need a trademark?” is separate from other business filings. It is an entirely separate legal process compared to the process you go through to register your fictitious name, LLC trade name, or sole proprietorship with the appropriate state and federal registrars of legal entities.

Registering your Trademark is the first step in protecting yourself from other companies using it for their purposes. It’s a necessary tool to ensure that you have exclusive rights over your name and logo, which are integral parts of establishing an identity as a company. Registering trademarks can also help prevent others from duplicating or infringing on features of your product, such as its packaging design or trade dress (the appearance).

A trademark refers to symbols, words, and logos that represent a particular brand. A trademark is essentially your brand name and its identity. Copyright applies to creative and artistic works, music, film, photography, painting, writing, and so on. You can legally protect your logo as copyright as well.
Please see the table below to learn more about the trademark and copyright protection features of your logo.

No. Trademark grants you trademark protection only in the country where you filed the trademark application. Although registering your logo as a trademark in one country may make it easier to register a trademark in another country, you will need to file a separate trademark application or seek international legal protection in each country in which you seek legal protection, as international agreements and regulations have created a mechanism for you to obtain an international trademark. This total will add additional costs as your business expands worldwide.
Registering your logo as a copyrighted work could be an excellent alternative with much less investment as you only pay once to protect your brand assets in 179 countries.

It usually takes four to six months to register a trademark from application to grant. However, in complex cases, it can take up to three years. In contrast, when you register your logo as copyright, you get your logo protected in as little as ten to twenty days.

If you are applying for trademark registration, the following steps need to be considered:

• Before applying for trademark registration for your logo, search your country’s databases to determine if another company is already using a logo that is too similar to the one you want.
• Once you have determined that your logo is not too similar to another brand’s, you can go ahead and file a trademark application with your local trademark office and wait for the logo to be published or rejected, depending on whether or not it meets the trademark criteria for registration.
• Hire a professional and experienced local IP consultant to handle all the paperwork and act on your behalf to simplify the process.

There are many reasons why your trademark application may be refused. These include:

• If your logo is generic – as in, it’s just a common symbol or emoji, or it has a name that could belong to anyone, you probably won’t qualify for a trademark. So, for example, logos representing companies named “Amazing Lawyer” or “Very Good Pizza” will likely not be recognized.
• There is a high likelihood of confusion, meaning consumers may mistake your logo for an existing registered trademark.
• Your logo is merely an embellishment and not a legitimate identifying mark
• Your logo contains offensive wording or imagery (although there are exceptions where this type of material can be registered as a trademark).
• The logo’s imagery or text is geographically misdescriptive, meaning it falsely implies that your business or product is located in or sourced from a particular place.

If you think the rejection was a mistake, you can file an appeal with the Trademark Office to have the application reconsidered and, ideally, accepted. However, if it turns out that your logo cannot be registered as a trademark, you will need to go back to the drawing board and create a new logo before trying again.

Your customers recognize your brand by your logo. Protecting it means protecting your corporate identity. The level of protection you need will be determined by the size and scope of your business. Small local brands may not need the hassle of registering a trademark as a logo, but it also becomes more vulnerable to infringement as your business grows.

You can certainly handle the process of registering your logo as a trademark yourself. But working with an IP consultancy can be beneficial, as experienced intellectual property experts can file your trademark application for you and handle all the paperwork for you, saving you time, money, energy, and eliminating the risk of a potential mistake.

Protect My Mark was established to help businesses in Dubai understand the process of registering a copyright and other intellectual property rights. We not only provide IP protection services for individuals and businesses but also offer solutions that will allow you to monetize your IP assets boosting your business growth. Contact us today to see what we can do for you.

You might be wondering why you would want to bother with copyright law for an issue in your profession. The answer is simple – not to dispute your ownership in courts!

Every creation requires time,  energy, and effort. The time involved varies significantly between projects. It may vary from a  few minutes to a  few years.  Besides,  any creative work also requires a certain amount of real capital and education or knowledge.  All these things add up to a massive investment on the part of any creative professional. The truth is that getting copyright protection for your work can be a confusing process. However, understanding the language of legal jargon and knowing where you stand legally is important, if not essential, to protect that which belongs only to you: your intellectual property rights, as an author or creator with exclusive rightsholders over their original works.

For most artists and creators out there, they must have sufficient knowledge about how they’re protected under the Copyright Law so that no one else other than them, such as middlemen distributors who exploit these valuable creations without giving any form of a credit back, can misuse what rightfully belongs solely to the artist themselves. Copyright protection is your best friend when it comes to protecting from those who infringe your creations.

Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects only the form of expression, not the idea itself. It provides authors and creators with exclusive rights to their original material to use it or duplicate it without other people being able to do those things for themselves. The reason copyright exists is that some ideas exist independently from any medium (words on paper) in which they’re written down – for example, mathematical formulas – which cannot be protected by traditional forms of Intellectual Property Law such as patents and copyrights.

To be legally protected as a copyrighted work, an object must demonstrate originality and creativity. In other words, the work cannot have been copied from anything else. It also needs to show enough measure of creativity judged by the local court based on merits specific to each case-in-point.

Protecting your creations with copyright may add valuable bonuses:

• The copyright owner can assign his or her legal rights for authorized use under a licensing agreement to use the work. This means that creators may make money on leasing or selling their intellectual property assets, so now they have an opportunity and motive in creating art.
• Registering your copyright is a great way to show that you legally own it; if someone violates and steals from you, they could be liable for statutory damages.

Determining which particular creation can be copyrighted is difficult. For example, it may help to associate each area with what they protect.

• If you want to ensure your brand has the protection it deserves, don’t forget that protecting its brand name, brand logo, slogan, and even its original font is just as important. We know how much of an investment a company’s branding can be – so why not put in some extra effort? Protecting what makes your brand unique will help build your reputation for years to come!
• If you are a gifted author, protect your books with the literary equivalent of Fort Knox. Your work deserves to be protected and preserved for future generations.
• Tech geeks may protect by copyright law, computer programs, databases, software, and mobile applications games, and other web-related items.
• All artists in the entertainment industry deserve to be compensated for their work. Copyright laws ensure that they can monetize their work and allow them peace of mind as a result.
• Graphic artists, designers, and drafters can safely claim intellectual property rights protection in such activities as architecture works, engineering plans and layouts, works of drawing, painting, sculpture, engrave or similar works in the scope of fine arts, photographic works, and works analogously to photography, works of applied and plastic art, illustrations, geographical maps, sketches, three-dimensional works relative to geography, topography and architecture designs.

Copyright protection is automatically granted to authors. The Berne Convention doesn’t impose any mandatory registration procedures on them, which means they don’t need permission from governments or other organizations before publishing their work. The Berne Convention provides copyright protection from the moment you put your original, copyrightable subject matter into a permanent form. Thus, you are protected from plagiarism and lawsuits for copying someone else’s work as soon as it is written down or recorded in any way (even if that recording only exists on paper).

Nevertheless, despite such freedom in registration and discretion in the choice provided by national and international regulation, the protection of the rights of rightsholders can be significantly complicated at the stages of ensuring or enforcing their rights in state courts or official bodies.

Imagine that you are a scientist. You just finished your innovative formula and want to ensure it is protected by Copyright Law. The registration of your work serves as independent proof of the date of its creation. In addition, it provides a way for others to identify who authored the piece by establishing ownership rights over their original idea or expression concerning any other parties interested in using it without consent from both authors first. Without registering this information, rightsholders may find themselves unable to come forward with evidence if someone else steals their idea because they have no formal documentation proving they own exclusive intellectual property concerning said material’s composition – be sure not to let anyone infringe your ideas!

Intellectual Property Law impacts nearly all businesses, small and large. Individuals who create or invent may need to take action, so the law protects their creations.

Registering your copyright with Protect My Mark provides additional legal and financial benefits, including:

• Enforcement of infringed rights in courts or with local authorities;
• Recovering certain compensation provided by statute, the ability to seek attorneys’ fees if you win a copyright infringement case;
• Registration serves as conclusive proof that your copyright is valid.

Ready to get started? Our IP Experts are here for you. We’ll take care of the paperwork, so you can focus on your business and what matters most to it.

Including “copyright” at the bottom of every page displays explicitly how people should know where the material came from for credit to be given appropriately.

Registering your intellectual property (IP) will help you to protect it from copyright infringement. You must have proof of ownership. This can be provided by registering your IP rights with authority like a state body or court before they are violated. There are several benefits for doing so:

• Make your life easier on the stage of enforcing your violated IP rights;
• Inform everyone who sees your text, photo, and website that this work has an author;
• Declare your exclusive copyrights to the intellectual property object;
• Have the ability to set your own rules for commercial and non-commercial use of your product;
• Have the ability to file a copyright infringement case;
• Be able to claim for statutory damages and attorney’s fees if a copyright lawsuit is successful.

What are your digital assets worth? A lot! Even more, than you may think. But not every organization is conscious of that fact, so they’re left unprotected and unable to reap the benefits. If there is a legal dispute about a certain asset, companies need to produce all their documentation showing how valuable these possessions are – from marketing materials down through customer data files and business plans.

• Company website: The following elements must be protected as copyright: design interface, domain name, source code, database, content, the concept of the website.
• Software: Accounting software, HR management systems, warehouse management systems, other customized modules of CRM systems.
• Social media accounts comprise such protectable IP objects as a brand of social media account, subdomain, content.
• Mobile application (or web application) in most cases consists of the icon of mobile application, source code, design interface of mobile application, database, content, and concept.

Copyright protection is a valuable asset to any company. After all, it can protect those precious digital assets that could be easily copied by others and published elsewhere without the original creator getting their due credit or compensation for the work.

Copyrightable objects must have been fixed in tangible form. Hence, they are safe from being reproduced and used without your consent – but what if you aren’t sure whether something qualifies? You’re not alone: copyright law is complicated enough on its own even before trying to apply these rules online.

Be sure not only to protect website content, graphics, and images but also domain name. A domain is a unique identifier on the internet, so it must be protected from third parties. If you want to protect your site from infringers of intellectual property rights such as copyright infringement, then opt for official copyright protection.

Let’s imagine you’ve developed a stellar website with a great domain name, now what? First, you will want to protect your rights. Since the domain name usually coincides with your brand name, domain registration can be carried out economically together with the brand name covered by one Composite Copyright Work. It is a unique and beneficial offer that will protect your brand name and domain against unfair competitors, save your money along with other benefits such as:

• Ability to obtain an official document constituting your rights to the domain name.
• Ability to protect your ownership of the domain name as an intellectual property object from illegal use.
• The ability to get monetary compensation in case of your copyright and proprietary rights to the domain name will be violated by any third parties.
• Ability to officially sell intellectual property rights on the site and/or domain.

Furthermore, having your domain registered as copyright under your name as an individual, as well as other IP assets, can generate real financial benefits through evaluation procedure and proper build-in structure of licensing your IP rights to your company.

We at Protect My Mark offer this unique service for all companies and entrepreneurs willing to protect their digital assets and maximize the value of their business.

Your website is a window to your business, and you need it to be an accurate reflection of the company. However, there are many dangers associated with having one – even though most people don’t think about them until they’re too late. Therefore, you must research before developing or operating your site because if not done properly, you’ll put yourself at risk for intellectual property litigation while also exposing yourself to potential copyright infringement lawsuits by others who want what’s yours.

To avoid such situations, it is important to have a strategy for intellectual property protection. Implementing a strategy that identifies, protects, and exploits the different types of IP in your business is something IP Experts at Protect My Mark will do for you at an affordable price and in a professional manner. You’ll never have to worry about your website-related creations again!

Brands and businesses need to register their trademarks to protect themselves from unfair competitors who may be benefiting at their expense. For example, if a competitor starts using your business name or slogan for advertising, they could attract customers away or, worse – deliver sub-standard products under your company’s name. To avoid this fate, you should register your trademark as soon as possible so that you can take legal action against any unauthorized use of your brand by others. This will allow your business to preserve its value while also protecting yourself legally if anyone does attempt an infringement.

Registering your trademark can make the difference between being a successful business and one that fails. This is because a registered trademark entitles you to be the sole owner of what is arguably one of an entrepreneur’s most valuable assets – their brand identity.

Registration will also protect your consumers and other businesses. Registering your trademark protects not only the quality of goods or services you offer but will also prove your partners and vendors the authenticity of your brand.

Below you will find these reasons why small business owners and startup companies choose to register their brands as trademarks in the United Arab Emirates:

1. Legal protection of corporate or product brand.
2. Receiving bank loans and investments using valued IP assets as a mortgage.
3. It is attracting an investor, selling a business.
4. Increasing the authorized capital registered in founding documents (charter, bylaws).
5. The exploitation of trademark to increase the market value of the business to prove a severe partner status, valuation of IP-assets.
6. IPR protection for original rightsholder from unfair competitors, third parties, former employees, unethical officials from state bodies.
7. Prevention of slander, discrediting the business reputation.
8. Compensation for damages to business reputation due to unfair competition, fraud, and provocations among clients and consumers.
9. Capitalization of marketing, salaries, PR, consulting expenses to increase value on intangible assets.
10. Possibility to control of Import and Export operations with goods/products released under registered trademark.
11. Possibility of scaling of current business under licenses and franchises.
12. Using trademarks for IPO, ICO (blockchain), IPS (Intellectual Property Sharing).
13. Possibility of blocking advertising, sales, and confiscation of illegal copies of goods released under registered trademark.
14. Compliance with local regulation for trademark registrations
15. Creation of short- and long-term branding, positioning, marketing strategy with an action plan.
16. Settlements and clearance of financial debts using IP-assets instead of money (debt clearing according to received notifications letter, claims, court decisions, etc.)
17. Reduction of period costs, optimization of accounting indicators in financial statements (profit increasing, etc.)
18. Certification of partners, contractors, and other business agents to build up a strong franchise or licensing system based on the trademark.
19. Creation of flexible, convenient legal system for quick launch and development of cooperation with new business partners.
20. Justification of large royalties for using IP assets (for banks, investors).
21. Receiving free support of state bodies for the protection of intellectual property rights.
22. Creation legal structure and system for secure launching of manufacturing in foreign countries.
23. Creation of a system of control on the market to identify illegal actions on unfair competitors.

Trademarks are a business’s opportunity to differentiate themselves from competitors and help establish an emotional connection with their audience. A trademark can also be used as the foundation of marketing campaigns, which helps promote your brand or product in new ways!

From a legal perspective, in the UAE, there are three ways to protect your brand name: trademarks, copyrights and trade names. These tools of protection come from international treaties that provide information about how they should be used.

• Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of 20 March 1883, known as Paris convention (regulates the application of a trading name as a legal mechanism in terms of brand legal protection).
• Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks of 14 April 1891, known as Madrid Convention (regulates the application of trademarks as a legal mechanism in terms of brand legal protection).
• Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works of 9 September 1886, known as Berne convention (regulates the application of copyrights as a legal tool in terms of brand legal protection).

The comparison of the mentioned tools, their scope of legal protection and their coverage in law is presented below in a handy table format.

Developing a strong, recognizable and reputable brand has never been more important in today’s fast-growing competitive world. Our Protect My Mark team can help small businesses and startups wisely invest their time or resources into building an identifiable trademark powerful enough to protect you from others trying to take credit for your hard work.

Registering your trademark in the UAE can be a long process that takes up to 6 months. Don’t waste time and miss out on opportunities! Let us help you register your trademark, so it’s protected before someone else does.

Our experienced and trusted IP professionals will help you safeguard your company’s brands, which is the first step to creating strong and undeniable value for your business. Today, get in touch with our talented team of IP Experts who can create an optimal IP Capitalization Strategy that allows you to rise above your competitors on the revenue chart!