A trade licence is not a trademark.
Registering a company called Meridian does not stop another company registering Meridian as a mark and then objecting to your use of it. Businesses routinely trade for years on an unprotected name, invest in it, and discover the exposure at the worst possible moment — during a franchise negotiation, an investment round, or a cease-and-desist letter.
Seven stages, and only some of them are in anyone’s control.
No adviser can guarantee registration. An application can be refused on examination or defeated on opposition. Any firm that promises you a granted trademark is selling something it does not control. What we can do is file it properly, defend it through examination, and tell you honestly what the risk of proceeding looks like before you spend anything.
Filed with the Ministry of Economy and Tourism, and maintained afterwards.
Search and clearance
An availability search and a written clearance opinion on the risk of proceeding — before the filing fee is spent, not after.
Classification
Advice under the Nice Classification covering the goods and services you actually offer, rather than a class copied from a similar business.
Filing and prosecution
Filing with the Ministry of Economy and Tourism, and responses to examination objections as they arise.
Publication and opposition
Monitoring through the publication window and handling oppositions where a third party challenges the mark.
Beyond trademarks
Copyright registration, and patent and industrial design registration where the asset being protected is not a name.
International filings
GCC and international filings, including national-phase entry and filings through the Madrid System where that is the appropriate route.
A mark you don’t maintain is a mark you gradually lose.
Portfolio management
A schedule of every mark with its renewal dates, for groups holding several marks across classes and markets. Renewals missed quietly are the most avoidable loss in this area.
Recordals and licensing
Assignment, licensing and recordal of changes — including licensing a mark to a joint venture partner, which is where structuring the venture and protecting the brand meet.
Holding structure
Where a mark is held by a holding company rather than the trading entity, the corporate structure matters — and it is far easier to get right at formation than to unpick afterwards.
Infringement monitoring
Watching for conflicting filings and use, and escalating to counsel where actual enforcement is required rather than pretending we can conduct it ourselves.
What businesses ask before filing.
Doesn’t my trade licence already protect my name?
No. A trade licence permits you to trade under a name. A trademark gives you the right to stop others using it. They are separate registers with separate consequences.
How long does registration take?
It depends on examination and the opposition period, neither of which is within any adviser’s control. We give an indicative timeline at filing and report at each stage rather than quoting a date we cannot hold.
What do you need from us to start?
The mark in the exact form to be registered, the list of goods and services, your trade licence and corporate documents if the applicant is a company, and a signed power of attorney.
Does a UAE registration protect us elsewhere?
No — trademark rights are territorial. GCC and international protection requires separate filings, which is what the Madrid System route exists to make manageable.
We’ve been trading unprotected for years. Is it too late?
Usually not, but the search matters more. That’s exactly the situation where a clearance opinion earns its cost, because it tells you whether someone has registered in the meantime.
Not sure where to start? Forty minutes, no cost, no licence quoted.
Your activity, your customers, your visas — and a written view of the structure that fits, with the case against it. The person you speak to is the person who keeps your file.
Two practices, twelve services — and the same advisor across all of them.
Corporate advisory & formation
- Structure & jurisdiction advisory Mainland, free zone or offshore — decided first
- Company formation Mainland and free zone, executed against the agreed structure
- Bank account opening The file a bank actually approves
- Residency & Golden Visa Investor, employment, family
- Capital, funding & joint ventures Readiness first, introductions second
- Trademark & IP A licence is not a trademark
Accounting & taxation
- Bookkeeping & management accounts Odoo, Zoho Books, QuickBooks
- UAE corporate tax Registration, returns, the qualifying position
- VAT & e-invoicing Returns, and readiness for the phased mandate
- Audit support The file prepared as a review, not a reconstruction
- Payroll & WPS Salary processing that satisfies the Wage Protection System
- Compliance calendar Every dated deadline, one page, one PDF
Find out whether the name is actually available.
A search and a clearance opinion tell you the risk of proceeding before you commit to the filing. Registration is decided by the Ministry of Economy and Tourism after examination and publication; a clearance search before filing is how we keep that decision predictable.
Prefer to talk now? WhatsApp +971 52 140 3947 · sales@oznetcorp.com