UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Amir Alkhaja, Areen Jayousi, Gulsun Ozmen and Alia AlMarzooqi, Habib Al Mulla & Partners
ket supply to the detriment of consumers, applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions so as to disadvantage trading parties, tying or bundling unrelated products or services, and predatory pricing or margin squeeze. Enforcement and Extraterritorial Application The Ministry is responsible for enforcing the abuse of dominance provisions and may exercise the same investigative and enforcement powers applicable to anti-competitive agreements and cartel conduct. The Competition Law and its Implementing Regulations applies on an effects basis and may extend to con - duct occurring outside the UAE where such conduct produces anti-competitive effects within the UAE mar - ket. Administrative fines for established abuses may reach up to 10% of total UAE revenues during the period of the infringement, and the Ministry may also order the cessation of the abusive practice and impose struc - tural or behavioural remedies. As with the cartel prohibition, regulated sectors including banking, financial services, insurance and telecommunications remain subject to their own sec - tor-specific regulatory frameworks and are excluded from the general Competition Law. Patent protection in the UAE is governed by Federal Decree-Law No 11 of 2021 on the Regulation and Protection of Industrial Property. To be patentable, an invention must be novel, involve an inventive step and be capable of industrial application; certain catego - ries, including discoveries, scientific theories, math - ematical methods and methods of medical treatment, are excluded from patentability. A patent confers protection for 20 years from the filing date, with no possibility of renewal beyond that term, and applications are filed with the Industrial Prop - erty Department of the Ministry of Economy, which conducts substantive examination. The UAE is also a member of the GCC Patent Office, which offers a sin - 7. Intellectual Property 7.1 Patents
gle regional application providing protection across all six GCC member states, although the role of the GCC Patent Office is in the process of being re-evaluated by member states. Enforcement is available through both the civil courts (injunctions, damages and deliv - ery up) and the criminal courts (fines and imprison - ment for wilful infringement). 7.2 Trade Marks Trade marks are protected under Federal Decree-Law No 36 of 2021 on Trade Marks. A registered trade mark confers exclusive rights for ten years from the date of registration and is indefinitely renewable for further ten-year periods upon payment of the pre - scribed renewal fees. Applications are filed with the Ministry of Economy’s Trade Mark Registry, and the UAE follows the Nice Classification system for the classification of goods and services. Well-known marks enjoy protection in the UAE even without local registration, consistent with the UAE’s obligations under the Paris Conven - tion and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the “TRIPS Agreement”), and civil remedies include injunctions, damages and an account of profits, while criminal liability may arise for wilful infringement. 7.3 Industrial Designs Industrial designs, the ornamental or aesthetic features of a product, are protected under Federal Decree-Law No 11 of 2021 on the Regulation and Protection of Industrial Property. Registration is with the Ministry of Economy and confers an initial protection period of ten years, renewable for two further five-year periods, providing a maximum protection period of 20 years. Unregistered designs do not receive equivalent stat - utory protection, and rights-holders are accordingly advised to register prior to commercialisation or public disclosure, with enforcement mechanisms mirroring those available for patent infringement, including civil and criminal remedies. 7.4 Copyright Copyright in the UAE is governed by Federal Decree- Law No 38 of 2021 on Copyrights and Neighbour - ing Rights. Protection arises automatically upon the creation of an original work, without any requirement
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