In the majority of cases, trademark selection makes the difference between the failure and the success of certain products and services. This is why it’s very important for you to work with experienced trademark specialists when choosing a mark to register in UAE and position your brand for success.

Kinds of good trademarks for brands

Good trademarks for brands that are great for trademark registration in UAE are inventive and distinctive. Selecting marks that are unique, suggestive, fanciful, and/or arbitrary will make sure that you are getting trademarks that are strong, which allow for the building of mega brands.

• Fanciful marks – fanciful marks are the ones that have no recognized meanings in the dictionary. Some examples of what we call as fanciful marks include Rolex and Starbucks. Also, since the trademark holder has the responsibility in policing the entire marketplace for trademark infringing activities, policing a fanciful mark would prove to be a lot simpler in comparison to the monitoring of the marketplace for trademarks of a different kind. It’s also less likely for you to discover unauthorized use of your mark that’s fanciful as you’ve made this up for yourself and you’ve utilized your imagination in creating a new term.
• Suggestive trademarks – this includes words that refer to a certain aspect, function, ingredient, or characteristic of a good or service without giving description to the actual goods or services straight up. Basically, the customer or client has to utilize his or her active imagination in getting to a conclusion on the nature of the products or services. An example is the Physicians Formula for gentle skin cream. They are the trademarks that are usually very attractive to entrepreneurs as there is no need to spend much on marketing and advertising in order to build an association in the minds of consumers between the source and the mark. The trademarks already give an inkling on the specific characteristics which lead the market to the point of determining the goods or services’ nature.
• Arbitrary marks – these marks are more familiar words that are utilized in connection with products or services that are unrelated. A great example of an arbitrary trademark would be Apple not only for laptops but iPods, tablets, and mobile phones. The term, apple, doesn’t have any meaning that is related to technology or any gadget other than being a trademark of a company. An arbitrary mark can provide an appealing association for the market. This kind of trademark also makes for a strong mark as it gives a good level of protection and broad scope as well.

Trademarks to avoid

Descriptive trademarks are best avoided as they are not as effective as tools compared to the ones we mentioned earlier. A trademark’s descriptiveness is determined after a mark’s evaluation in relation to a good or service. A business owner should consider a mark’s possible significance and its impact to average consumers of offered goods or services.

If the average consumer would recognize a mark to be not of a source, then the trademark will be refused by the trademark authorities in the UAE as merely descriptive.

If the terms used as marks attribute excellence or attributes to products and/or services, they will be considered as descriptive in general. Words like premier, supreme, best, and the like are held merely descriptive for use in connective with a couple of other descriptive terms.

Also, slogans that convey advertising messages or mere information rather than indicate sources are going to be refused for trademark registration in UAE. For your slogan to be considered by the authorities, it has to create a distinct commercial impression other than the rest of the label’s text.

Reasons for rejections for trademark registration in UAE

While confusion amongst consumers is the biggest issue with conflict on trademarks, there’s a couple more reasons as to why authorities won’t grant a mark including the following:

• Merely a surname – this one is self-explanatory. An examining officer will reject a trademark registration application if a mark’s primary significance to the public or market is a surname.
• Primarily geographically descriptive – a descriptive mark that is primarily geographical simply identifies the goods or services’ geographic origin. This is not going to be approved for trademark registration. Also, a deceptively misdescriptive trademark that is primarily geographical as well is one wherein products or services don’t originate in a place that was identified by the mark. An example to this is a clothing line that is called “England” but it is actually a clothing line that was created in Minneapolis.
• Orientation – this is something that is merely a good’s decorative part and doesn’t provide a distinction to the goods from the ones that are available in the market. to give an example, a picture or logo that does not identify the goods’ source like “my momma loves me” that is written on coffee mugs or shirts.

Selecting a trademark

The top brands worldwide are looking at creating more inventive and unique trademarks. These corporate giants learned through experience to avoid descriptive and generic terms that do not provide any strength to their brands.

Of course, it’s possible for you to acquire a relatively powerful branding with more descriptive words used as marks; however, this would take you an incredibly long time. For you to accomplish this, you would need a significant amount of resources spent on promotion and advertising through the years, so your consumers get the secondary meaning. Secondary meaning only develops in the minds of consumers with time and ample resources.

If you seek the help of trademark specialists that are based in UAE, you will get counsel on efficient ways in building brand strength as well as advice on cost-effective methods for you to distinguish your products or services from those of competitors. It is also advised to turn to trademark experts to conduct a thorough trademark search for the brand that you plan on registering.  Click here for more Details.