Why Conducting a Trademark Search Before Registering Your Brand Is Crucial to Your Business?  

Before registering your brand in a global economic hub like the UAE—where business is dynamic and highly competitive—securing your brand’s identity is essential. A trademark, often referred to as the identity and face of a brand, consists of distinct names, figures, graphics, titles, logos, hallmarks, seals, patterns, and more (Federal Decree Law No. 36 of 2021 on Trademarks). Conducting a trademark search before selecting and registering your brand’s trademark is a proactive step that helps identify any conflicting marks and avoid potential legal complications. This ensures a smoother registration process and safeguards your brand’s future.  

What is a Trademark Search? 

A Trademark Search is a comprehensive review of local and international trademark databases conducted before formal trademark registration. This process helps determine whether trademarks similar to your proposed mark already exist in the market. A Trademark Search also enables businesses to assess registration criteria, identify restricted marks, and enhance the likelihood of trademark approval.  

When should you conduct a Trademark Search?  

It is ideal to conduct a Trademark Search before initiating the registration process and before using the proposed mark in any official capacity. This proactive step helps prevent future conflicts and trademark infringement disputes. Businesses can also periodically conduct trademark searches to ensure that no new conflicting trademarks have emerged in the market.  

Why conduct a trademark search? 

Performing a trademark search before registering offers several benefits to your business: 

• Identify Conflicting Marks: A pre-registration search ensures that your chosen trademark is unique and distinctive, preventing conflicts with existing marks that may be visually or phonetically similar and could mislead or confuse consumers.  

• Strengthen Your Market Strategy: A trademark search provides insights into competitors’ trademarks and branding strategies. Understanding market trends, gaps, and opportunities allows businesses to make informed branding decisions and develop effective marketing strategies. 

• Ensure Trademark Uniqueness and Distinctiveness: Identifying potential conflicts early allows businesses to refine and modify their trademarks before launching them. This enhances originality and differentiation from competitors.  

• Ensure Legal Compliance with the UAE’s Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Laws: The UAE has well-defined trademark laws and is a signatory to various international intellectual property treaties. Conducting a trademark search helps ensure compliance with these legal frameworks, reducing the risk of legal challenges.  

• Avoid Potential Legal Conflicts: Expensive and lengthy legal actions can drain a business’s resources and damage your brand reputation. A comprehensive Trademark Search can help avoid such legal conflicts and lawsuits by third-party brands consequentially registering similar trademarks and trademark infringements.  

• Save Time and Costs: Branding, marketing, and filing trademark applications involve significant investments. Discovering a conflicting trademark during or after registration may necessitate costly rebranding efforts and could lead to the rejection of your trademark application. A Trademark Search helps businesses make informed decisions, protecting their investments and increasing the likelihood of successful registration. 

• Provides your Business Global Protection: A well-researched Trademark Search ensures that your mark is distinctive not only in the UAE but also in the international market. This mitigates the risk of conflicts when expanding globally and helps establish a strong global brand presence.  

How to conduct a Trademark Search? 

Determine the Trademark Class: Ascertaining the specific ‘class’ of your chosen trademark is the first step. There are 45 recognised international classes of trademarks categorised based on distinctive products and services.  

Where to Search? : Once your class of trademark is determined, a Trademark Search can be undertaken in the Trademark Registry of the UAE. Your business can also conduct a search through other online and offline sources available, including the offline physical markets, trade directories, social media platforms, e-commerce platforms, etc., to detect and check the status of the conflicting trademarks.  

Businesses with global aspirations neglecting international searches is a commonly done mistake. Businesses intending for international registration are required to align their trademark with the guidelines established in the Madrid System, regulated by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). Conducting an extensive search in the International Registry, administered by the WIPO, where records sent by national, regional and international collections exist, can cover multiple sources from a large number of countries simultaneously.  

Obtaining a complete, comprehensive and well-structured Trademark Search Report can be challenging and intricate. Trivial and the slightest similarities in your trademarks can end up in lengthy and complex legal disputes. Hence, engaging with a trademark professional or a legal expert who can efficiently conduct a detailed search based on various combinations of strings and phonetical and syntactical variations of your proposed mark can be effective in providing unique insights and escalating your trademark’s probability of getting approved and registered.  

Conclusion: 

A trademark search is crucial for businesses to build a strong and legally protected brand identity. It helps prevent legal hurdles and infringement disputes, ensuring a smooth registration process. Seeking professional legal assistance for a thorough trademark search is highly recommended.