MALDIVES Law and Practice Contributed by: Hassan Maaz Shareef, Aminath Amathulla, Aishath Shifala, Mohamed Azmee, Nazahath Ahmed, Maaisha Mohamed Musthafa, Aifa Shareef and Noorul Hudha Ahmed, Premier Chambers LLP
7.2 Trade Marks The Trademark Act (Law 19/2025) (“Trademark Act”) was enacted on 11 November 2025 and will come into force on 11 November 2026. Until then, a limited trade mark registration system is operational in the Maldives. Please see 9.1 Upcoming Legal Reforms . Limited System of Registration As a matter of practice, a business may register a trade mark with the Ministry on the basis of a business name registered by the business before they register the trade mark. However, only businesses incorporat - ed or re-registered in the Maldives may register these trade marks in the Maldives. Under Section 12 (a) of the Business Registration Act (Law 18/2014) (“Business Registration Act”), any busi - ness activity may only be undertaken in the Maldives by a registered business entity after registering a busi - ness name under which the business activity will be undertaken. Under the Business Registration Act, the Registrar of Business can refuse to register any name in the following situations. • Where the name is already registered by another business or is believed to be similar to a name already registered. • Where the name is registered as a trade mark by another party. • Where the name is a famous name outside of the Maldives and the registration of the business name may mislead the public into wrongfully believing that the name is associated with the famous busi - ness carried on outside the Maldives. • Where the name contravenes acceptable commu - nity standards. • Where the name, without using any additional word or phrase, depicts only a matter, place or thing that cannot be owned by a single party. • Where the name, as determined by judgment of a court of law, is prohibited from use as a business name. • Where the name is reserved for another party. • Where the name is a type of name that cannot be registered for reasons prescribed in the regulation.
• price-fixing; • market divisions and customer allocations; • intentional limitation in the production of goods and the development of technology; • refusal to sell or deal with certain parties; and • control of investments. If the Ministry determines that a business has exploit - ed or abused its dominant market position, it has the authority to impose a fine of between MVR10,000 and MVR100,000. The Ministry has not taken any enforcement action against businesses for an anti-competitive agreement or practice to date. 6.4 Abuse of Dominant Position The Competition Act assesses whether or not a party holds a dominant position based on: • the nature of the market it is operating in; • its share and power in the market; and • the significant control it has over the market. Actions such as predatory pricing, imposing unfair prices, refusing to deal with certain parties, limiting production of goods or development of technology to the detriment of consumers, imposing unnecessary obligations which have no commercial use or are not material to the subject of the contract or imposing dif - fering conditions to trading parties to block their entry or operation in the market could all amount to abuses of a dominant position. If the Ministry determines that a business has abused its dominant position in the market, it may impose a fine of between MVR10,000 and MVR100,000. However, these enforcement powers have yet to be used by the Ministry.
7. Intellectual Property 7.1 Patents
There is currently no patent legislation in the Maldives. Therefore, currently, there is no process by which a patent owner can register their patent in the country.
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