United Arab Emirates: Late Filing of the Legalized Power of Attorney for Trademark Applications and Priority Document

 

Through an official notification released on April 11, 2021 by the "UAE Trademarks and Copyright Works Department – Ministry of Economy”, late filing of legalized Power of Attorney “PoA” has been allowed for new trademark filings. If the legalized “PoA” is not available at the time of filing the trademark application, the applicant or its trademark agent can file an undertaking that the legalized PoA will be filed within “thirty” days from the date of submitting the trademark application. There will be no official fee for the late filing of the PoA.

 

This notification came at an opportune time, especially due to the pandemic, many applicants face delay in legalizing the PoA which was strictly required at the time of filing a trademark application. Also, this flexibility is of great importance to trademark owners’ claiming priority who could not do so due to lack of PoA.

 

As per the current procedures and in line with the Paris Convention rules, the priority document may be filed within 3 months from the filing date of the priority application in the UAE. There will be no official fee for such late filing of the priority document.

 

The official notification is silent regarding the possibility of late filing of the legalized PoA for renewal of a trademark, or post-registration recordals. On the contrary, the notification states that the late filing of the PoA for filing oppositions and appeals before the Ministry of Economy is not allowed and that a fully legalized PoA is required at the time of filing such actions.

 

As the legalization procedures of PoA take a long time in many jurisdictions, it is important for trademark owners to arrange the legalization of the POA as soon as possible, as for foreign applicants, certain local procedures, such as completing the PoA legalization process at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and obtaining certified Arabic translation of the same, are also needed.

 

While local applicants are required to submit PoA attested only by the notary public in UAE.