Getting a trademark in the United Arab Emirates has become both faster and less expensive, thanks to reforms introduced in October 2025. The efforts, say the Ministry of Economy and Tourism, are designed to enhance the UAE’s appeal for national and international brands and to support owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).  

Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, minister of economy and tourism, affirmed at a media briefing in October that the UAE has made significant strides in developing a comprehensive legislative and regulatory framework for intellectual property. He noted that trademarks have received special attention as a key pillar of this ecosystem, supported by the establishment of a competitive legislative infrastructure that enables them to grow and flourish.  

The minister added: “The Cabinet’s decision on the fees for trademark services provided by the Ministry represents an important step in enhancing the UAE’s attractiveness to international investors, attracting global companies, and supporting SME owners and people of determination. It aims to help them grow, improve the quality of services offered to customers, and expedite procedures, thereby facilitating the registration and follow-up of trademarks. This decision is also part of the UAE’s ongoing efforts to develop and strengthen the intellectual property sector in line with highest global standards.” 

The Ministry of Economy and Tourism registered 19,957 national and international trademarks during the first half of 2025, representing a 129 percent growth compared to 8,711 trademarks registered in the first half of 2024, reflecting the notable growth in trademark registrations within UAE markets. 

The Ministry will provide members of the National Programme for Small and Medium Enterprises with a 50 percent partial exemption on trademark service fees, which coincides with the launch of the national campaign The Emirates: The Startup Capital of the World and supports the achievement of its objective to enhance the country's competitiveness as an incubator for SMEs at regional and global levels. 

It also grants people of determination – those with disabilities – a full exemption, reflecting the UAE’s commitment to empowering SME owners and people of determination in establishing new trademarks and facilitating their access to a more flexible and efficient business environment. Under the decision, fees are collected for a single category if the application includes only one category, and separately for each category in the case of multiple categories, even if submitted within a single application. 

The news on trademarks suggests that the UAE – a country made up of seven separate emirates, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai, as well as Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain – may soon see a boom in the local IP legal market. In this issue, we pay tribute to many of the best IP lawyers in the country by presenting our UAE Top 40 IP Experts list. We asked a large number of IP professionals in the region, who are mostly in-house counsel and corporate legal managers, about what they were looking for from their legal service providers, to understand better what clients need and want today. Based on these answers, we have compiled our list of the Top 40 IP experts in the UAE, lawyers who can best understand what their clients need and provide them with the best practical advice. 

Our list is categorized with the specialized fields of the experts, including patents, trademarks, copyright, enforcement, licensing and franchising, media and entertainment, IT and telecoms, pharma and biotech, and IP litigation. A total of 40 top experts from 25 law firms are presented, including the UAE’s largest IP firms and practices. Some of the region’s top firms are heavily represented in the list: Al Tamimi & Company placed four lawyers on our list (Rasha Al-Ardah, Omar Obeidat, Ahmad Saleh and Ahmad Zaza), while CWB (Cameron Crawford, Halim Shehadeh and Theuns van de Merwe), Gowling WLG (Bachir A. Chakra, Tamara El-Shibib and Jon Parker), Hadef & Partners (James Dunne, Rami Omar and Victoria Woods) and Rouse (Bassel El Turk, Sara Holder and Paul Muscat) each placed three lawyers.  

Most of the lawyers named to our list have multiple practice specialties. Many of them are litigators, while others concentrate on prosecution work or provide strategic advice.  

All of them have something in common: they are experts in their fields and, in one way or another, they provide extra value for their clients. They are Asia IP’s UAE IP Experts. – GREGORY GLASS 

The United Arab Emirates’ IP Experts is based solely on independent editorial research conducted by Asia IP. As part of this project, we turned to thousands of in-house counsel in the Middle East, Asia and around the world, as well as UAE-focused partners at international law firms, and asked them to nominate private-practice lawyers, including foreign legal consultants, advisers and counsel. 

The final list reflects the nominations received combined with the input of the editorial team at Asia IP, which has more than 60 years of collective experience in researching and understanding the legal market in Asia and the Middle East. 

All private practice intellectual property lawyers working at law firms in Japan were eligible for inclusion in the nomination process; there were no fees or any other requirements for inclusion in the process. 

The names of our 40 IP Experts are published here. Each IP Expert was given the opportunity to include their biography and contact details in print and on our website, for which a fee was charged.