The trademark office of the United Arab Emirates has opened Class 33 of the Nice Classification, relating to alcoholic beverages, to registration, having until now excluded it on public policy grounds. This is a change of practice of considerable significance for trademark owners in the beverages, catering and hospitality sectors, who in the Emirates had no formal route to protection for a significant part of their portfolios.
Until now, applications including Class 33 goods could not be accepted. Owners were therefore obliged to take indirect routes, filing their sign in Class 32, with the specification limited to beer or non-alcoholic beer, or in Class 43 for bar services, in order to obtain at least a formal foothold in the territory.
Such solutions presented two evident drawbacks. On the one hand, protection was partial and did not cover the goods actually marketed; on the other, a mismatch arose between the specification of goods filed in the Emirates and that adopted in other jurisdictions, with consequent difficulties in managing the portfolio as a whole and in demonstrating use of the sign.
The opening of Class 33 now makes it possible to align Emirati specifications with those used internationally, eliminating the mismatch described above, and to extend protection to entire portfolios in the premium spirits, wine and beer sectors, for which no formal route to protection previously existed.
This calls for a review that owners in the beverages, luxury and hospitality sectors should undertake as soon as possible, checking the scope of their Emirati registrations and considering new applications in Class 33 for signs that until now were unprotected or protected only indirectly.
The opportunity is matched, however, by a monitoring obligation. It is reasonable to expect that the opening of the class will generate a substantial influx of new filings, with a consequent increase in the risk that applications for conflicting signs will be published. It is therefore advisable to activate watch services specifically covering Class 33 in the Emirates, so as to be able to act promptly by way of opposition.
United Arab Emirates: trademarks for alcoholic beverages can now be registered
