You can now register sounds, smells and holograms as trademarks

According to the minister, if you enter a hotel and smell a perfume, the chain can register that smell for its brand.

According to a senior official on Wednesday, companies and individuals in the UAE can register their trademark in a variety of formats, such as sounds, fragrances, geographical indicator marks and holograms.

Speaking on Wednesday at the launch of the new intellectual property (IP) system in Dubai, Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri stated that the ministry is now working to expand the scope of trademark registration by adding additional classes of non-traditional trademarks.

According Abdulla Al Saleh, Undersecretary of Commerce and Industry of the Ministry of EconomyThe United Arab Emirates updated its outdated intellectual property rules in 2021 with a completely new framework.

“When we talk about protecting intellectual property rights over holograms, sounds and smells, these practices were not mentioned in the previous version of the law. The new version of the law covers all of these practices. We created a registration system for this purpose. For example, if you walk into a hotel and smell a perfume, the hotel chain can trademark that smell for its brand. Therefore, no other brand can use it. In the same way, a musical tone that we hear at the beginning of a video or a movie in theaters can also be registered as its intellectual property.”

he said.

There was a notable increase in the number of trademark applications in 2023 – an increase of 9.6% from the previous year. In addition, there was a 29.5% increase in the registration of intellectual works and a 2.9% increase in the number of registered trademarks.

In 2023, the ministry received 3,415 patent applications, an increase of 19.5% from the previous year. In 2023, there were 5,108 patents registered in total, an increase of 13.7% from 2022.

11 new initiatives

Eleven integrated efforts across various intellectual property disciplines and applications are covered by the new intellectual property system:

• The Innovation Hub offers UAE inventors an online incubation platform. Offers technical advice and support for the patent registration process.
• The goal of the Patent Hive program is to increase the number of patents granted. By 2026, it is expected that 6,000 additional patent registrations will have been made in the country.
• Improving the capabilities and competitiveness of Emirati talent in the field of intellectual property is the objective of the “Fahes” (examiner) project.
• InnovLAB’s goal is to support and improve the capabilities of innovation incubators.
• InstaBlock responds to concerns about copyright violations in live streaming.
• IP Sport increases the number of registered brands in the UAE sports industry.
• One Day TM speeds up the process by allowing a trademark registration certificate to be issued in just one business day.
• To connect and combine data from various government departments tasked with enforcing intellectual property rights, the IP Platform project will be developed.
• “Hayyakom” is presented in conjunction with the INTA meeting, which is hosted by the United Arab Emirates.
• The World Intellectual Property Organization will support the IP School initiative, which will offer a broad portfolio of intellectual property training courses.
• To educate people about intellectual property rights, interact with the public and answer their questions, the virtual character “Aisha” is introduced. To achieve this, social media channels or participation in events will be used.

Protect intellectual property rights, minimize infringements and resolve related disputes, encourage the expansion of R&D-based projects, improve the services provided by the ministry for patents based on AI technology, and utilize the protection results of intellectual property both nationally and internationally are the four main pillars of the new system.

The minister went on to say that this program is a component of the UAE’s goal to establish itself as the world’s most successful society and a hub for the new economy by 2031.

News Source: Khaleej Times