What Are Non-Traditional Trademarks in the UAE?
UAE businesses can now protect more than logos and brand names. Trademark protection has been extended to cover non-traditional marks, including sounds, scents, and holograms. This means a company can register a signature jingle, a distinctive scent used in its stores or products, or a three-dimensional visual effect as part of its protected brand identity.
A trademark is anything that helps the public recognize and distinguish a brand. Traditionally this meant a name, logo, symbol, or design. Under current UAE law, it can also include a sound, such as a musical tone or jingle used in advertising, a scent associated with a store, hotel, or product, or a hologram, meaning a three-dimensional image or visual effect incorporated into packaging or branding. These categories are formally recognized by the UAE Ministry of Economy.
What Types of Non-Traditional Trademarks Can Be Registered?
Registrable non-traditional marks fall into three main categories. A sound mark protects an audio signature, such as a jingle played in advertisements or before films. A scent mark protects a distinctive smell tied to a physical space or product, such as a hotel lobby fragrance or a signature product scent. A hologram mark protects a three-dimensional image or visual effect used in packaging or branding.
In practice, this allows a hotel chain to register its signature lobby scent and prevent competitors from using the same fragrance to create a similar customer experience. It allows a company to protect a musical tone used consistently in its advertising. It also allows businesses to register holographic or three-dimensional visual marks to differentiate their packaging from competitors.
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Contact the team at Farahat & Co. for professional support and expert insights for businesses operating in the UAE.
Why Do Non-Traditional Trademarks Matter for Branding?
Extending trademark protection to sounds, scents, and holograms gives businesses more tools to build a distinctive brand identity and more legal recourse when that identity is copied. Once registered, a business can take legal action against a third party using an identical or confusingly similar sound, scent, or hologram in its own branding.
This matters most for businesses where a sensory or visual element has become closely tied to customer recognition. For example, a hotel that has used a specific perfume in its lobby for years can now register that scent, which prevents other hotels from legally using the same or a confusingly similar smell to create a similar guest experience.
What Is the Legal Framework Behind UAE Trademark Registration?
The current UAE trademark system is governed by Federal Decree-Law No. 36 of 2021 on Trademarks, which repealed the earlier trademark law and expanded protection to include holograms, sounds, and scents as registrable categories. The law is aligned with the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which brings UAE trademark practice in line with international standards.
The broader aims of the current framework include stronger legal mechanisms for protecting intellectual property rights, more effective mechanisms for resolving infringement disputes, and support for research and development activity connected to intellectual property, including the integration of newer technologies into IP administration processes.
How Do Businesses Register a Sound, Scent, or Hologram Trademark?
Registration is handled through the UAE Ministry of Economy’s Intellectual Property Platform, and follows a defined sequence.
Prepare the trademark. For a sound mark, this means recording the sound and preparing a written description of it. For a scent mark, this means supplying a sample along with information about its chemical composition. For a hologram mark, this means providing a visual file along with a description of how the visual effect operates.
Submit the application. The application is filed through the Ministry of Economy’s Intellectual Property Portal, with all required supporting documents uploaded and the applicable registration fees paid.
Await review. The Ministry reviews the application to confirm the mark is original, distinctive, and compliant with the requirements of Federal Decree-Law No. 36 of 2021.
Receive the certificate. Once approved, a registration certificate is issued to the trademark holder, who can then use the sound, scent, or hologram in branding and take legal action against unauthorized use by third parties.
What Should Businesses Consider Before Filing a Non-Traditional Trademark?
Non-traditional marks are inherently harder to define precisely than a logo or wordmark, which makes the preparation stage more important than it is for a conventional trademark filing. A scent sample and chemical composition description, a sound recording and written description, or a hologram file and functional description all need to describe the mark clearly enough that the Ministry, and later any court or opposition proceeding, can assess whether a competing mark is confusingly similar.
Businesses should also consider how consistently the mark has actually been used in commerce before filing. A sound, scent, or hologram that has been used inconsistently across different products or locations is harder to defend as a distinctive brand identifier than one that has been applied consistently over time.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can a business register a scent as a trademark in the UAE?
What law governs non-traditional trademarks in the UAE?
How is a sound trademark registered?
What happens once a non-traditional trademark is approved?
Is UAE trademark law aligned with international IP standards?
Need Expert Advice?
Contact the team at Farahat & Co. for professional support and expert insights for businesses operating in the UAE.
How Farahat & Co. Can Help
Farahat & Co. assists businesses with trademark registration in the UAE, including preparing and filing applications for non-traditional marks such as sounds, scents, and holograms under Federal Decree-Law No. 36 of 2021.
Contact Farahat & Co. today to discuss your UAE trademark registration requirements.
