COVID-19: Reduction of UAE Ministry of Economy fees has been announced

Published

Apr 05 2020

Written By

I am the head of the Intellectual Property Group for the Middle East offices and a partner in the International Commercial Group. I've practised in the UAE since 2006 and I'm ranked in IP Stars, Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and Who's Who Legal for my commercial and intellectual property experience.

Sahar Tarhini

Associate
United Arab Emirates

I am an associate based in the UAE offices. <BR/><BR/>I am part of the Intellectual Property team and have extensive experience in all aspects of brand protection and portfolio management in the UAE, MENA region and internationally.

The UAE Ministry of Economy has announced on 5 April 2020 that new reductions have been applied to various IP services. Set out below is a table showing the main services affected by the Ministry's decision, along with their fees before and after the reduction.

Service	Fee in AED (pre-reduction)	Fee in AED (post-reduction)	Fee in USD (pre-reduction)	Fee in USD (post-reduction)
Conducting search for one mark in one class	500	350	140	96
Conducting search for same mark in each additional class	500	350	140	96
Filing a trade mark application for one mark in one class	1,000	750	275	205
Registration of one mark in one class	6,700	5,000	1,825	1,365
Renewal of one mark in one class (within the last year of protection)	8,700	6,500	2,365	1,770
Filing an opposition against one mark	10,000	7,500	2,725	2,045

These additional reductions come after a similar decision issued by the Ministry of Economy in 2019, in which reductions were applied to several IP services, including those mentioned above.

The Ministry of Economy is constantly working on improving its services and reducing its fees to encourage brand owners and applicants to register and protect their trade marks in the UAE. Considering that the UAE has consistently been one of the most expensive jurisdictions in which to register, interested applicants are invited to take advantage of the reduced fees.

We can provide more details and/or the full list of services that are subject to the reduction should you wish to obtain the same. Please contact us at mea.trademarks@twobirds.com and we will be more than happy to assist you.

The decision is applicable as of 5 April 2020.