A UAE patent lasts 20 years from the filing date and the Ministry of Economy and Tourism charges the fee in stages: AED 1,000 to file as an individual or AED 2,000 as a company, then AED 7,000 for the search and first substantive examination. The number nobody publishes is the wait. The Ministry’s own service card states an average of 42 months from paying the examination fee to receiving the examination result, on top of seven months for the legal examination and three more months from the publication fee to issuance.

That is roughly four and a half years end to end, which changes how you should think about the whole decision. This guide covers what can and cannot be patented in the UAE, the cheaper and faster utility certificate route, industrial design registration at AED 1,000, trade secret protection that costs nothing and never expires, the three rules that decide whether your employer owns your invention, and the penalties and enforcement route under Federal Law No. 11 of 2021 on the Regulation and Protection of Industrial Property Rights.

What Industrial Property Covers in the UAE

Federal Law No. 11 of 2021 covers five separate rights: patents, utility model certificates, industrial designs, layout-designs of integrated circuits, and undisclosed information, meaning trade secrets. They have different terms, different costs, and two of them require no registration at all.

Right Protects Term Registration
Patent A new invention with an inventive step, industrially applicable 20 years from filing Required, with examination
Utility model certificate A new, industrially applicable invention without an inventive step 10 years from filing Required
Industrial design The ornamental or aesthetic appearance of an article 20 years from filing Required (Article 40)
Layout-design of an integrated circuit An original circuit topography 10 years from filing or first commercial exploitation, whichever is earlier Required
Undisclosed information (trade secret) Commercially valuable secret information kept secret by reasonable steps Indefinite, while it stays secret None

Brand names are not on this list. Names, logos and slogans are handled separately under the UAE trademark regime at the same Ministry, and creative works including software are handled under copyright law. Filing the wrong one is the most expensive mistake in this area.

What Can and Cannot Be Patented in the UAE

Article 5 sets three tests. The invention must be new, meaning not known to the public before the filing date; it must involve an inventive step, meaning it is not obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art; and it must be industrially applicable, meaning it can be manufactured or used in any sector.

Article 7 then lists six categories that cannot be patented at all:

  • Plant or animal varieties and biological processes for producing them, apart from microbiological processes and their products.
  • Methods of diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical treatment of the human or animal body.
  • Principles, discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods.
  • Schemes, rules, computer programs, or methods for doing business, performing mental acts or playing games.
  • Natural materials, even if purified or isolated from nature, though methods of purification or isolation are patentable.
  • Inventions whose exploitation would be contrary to public order or morality, or harmful to human health or life or the environment.

The fourth item is the one that redirects most technology founders. A computer program is not patentable subject matter in the UAE, and neither is a business method. Software is protected instead by copyright, automatically and for far longer, and the underlying commercial logic is usually best protected as a trade secret. Article 7(2) adds that if the Ministry finds after examination that the invention relates to security or military industries, a separate procedure in the Executive Regulations applies.

The utility certificate is the second-tier route, but the Ministry’s own card muddies it

Article 6(1) grants a utility model certificate for a new invention that is industrially applicable but does not involve an innovative step that qualifies for a patent. That is its whole purpose: a lower inventiveness bar, in exchange for ten years of protection instead of twenty. Article 6(3) lets the patent office convert a utility model application into a patent application and back again, on the conditions in the Executive Regulations.

Worth flagging honestly: the Ministry’s published service card for the utility certificate lists the basic requirements as industrial viability, novelty, and that “the invention must involve an inventive step”, which is the patent test rather than the utility model test in Article 6(1). The same card also states that applications are examined under Federal Law No. 31 of 2006, the previous patent law, which Federal Law No. 11 of 2021 replaced. Where a service card and the statute diverge, the statute governs, but confirm the current examination practice with the Ministry before choosing the route on cost grounds.

UAE Patent Fees and How Long It Actually Takes

The Ministry collects fees at three separate points rather than as one filing charge, and the largest single payment is the search and first examination fee at AED 7,000, which is the same for individuals and companies.

Stage Individuals Companies
New application (patent or utility certificate) AED 1,000 AED 2,000
Search and first examination AED 7,000 AED 7,000
Second or third examination, if requested AED 5,000 AED 5,000
First publication request No fee, but the payment process must be completed No fee, but the payment process must be completed
Grievance and objection (appeal) No fee, but the payment process must be completed No fee, but the payment process must be completed
Industrial design application AED 1,000 AED 2,000

An industrial design carries no examination fee and no publication fee on the Ministry’s card, which is why it is by far the cheapest registered industrial property right in the UAE. Article 18(2) and Article 45(2) separately require annual fees throughout the term of protection for patents, utility certificates and designs, and the Executive Regulations set the procedure for reactivating an application where those fees are paid late.

The published timeline

The Ministry publishes three separate durations for the patent service, and they are cumulative:

  • 7 months from submitting the application to completing the formal and legal examination.
  • 42 months from paying the examination fee to receiving the examination result.
  • 3 months from paying the publication fee to issuance of the patent.

Plan on four to five years for a granted UAE patent, and structure your commercial position so it does not depend on the grant arriving. Two things soften this. Article 14 allows the Ministry to examine a set of urgent applications ahead of others regardless of filing date, on criteria set in the Executive Regulations, and the Ministry has separately launched a Patent Hive initiative aimed at supporting inventors through registration. An industrial design, by contrast, takes about three months from the publication fee to the certificate.

The 90-day rule that voids applications

The mandatory documents, meaning the full description, claims and any drawings, must be attached at filing, in Arabic or English. If some are missing, the Ministry gives the applicant 90 days to supply them. The service card is blunt about what follows: after that deadline the application is waived, and the applicant must pay a penalty to reactivate it. Article 11(9) applies the same 90-day window to any additional information or data the Ministry requests, and Article 13(1) treats failure to meet requirements within 90 days of notification as a waiver of the application.

Who Owns an Invention Made at Work

Article 10 is the most consequential provision in the law for anyone employed in the UAE. Where an invention is made in execution of a contract, the patent right belongs to the employer in the absence of contractual provisions to the contrary. And any patent application filed by the inventor employee within two years of the end of service is deemed to have been made during the term of service.

That two-year look-back is the sleeper. Leaving a job and filing six months later does not move the invention out of the employer’s column. It is a rebuttable position in practice rather than an absolute rule, but the statutory presumption runs against the former employee, and it is entirely separate from any non-compete clause in the employment contract.

Article 10 then splits into a second scenario with the opposite default. Where an employee whose contract does not require inventive activity makes an invention in the employer’s field using the employer’s expertise, documents, instruments or raw materials, the right belongs to the employee, but only after a waiting period. The employee must report the invention to the employer in a written report immediately on completing it. The employer then has four months from that report to make a written declaration of interest. If the employer declares interest in time, the right is treated as having belonged to the employer from the date the invention was made. If the employer stays silent, the right passes to the employee.

Two protections run in the inventor’s favor, and both are worth knowing before signing anything:

  • Article 10(5): where the employer claims the invention, the employee is entitled to equitable compensation reflecting the economic value of the invention and any benefit the employer derives from it. Absent agreement, the court fixes the amount.
  • Article 10(2): even in the ordinary case where the employer owns the invention from the outset, if it turns out to have an economic value much greater than the parties could have foreseen when they contracted, the inventor has a right to additional remuneration, again fixed by the court absent agreement.

Article 10(6) closes the loop: any agreement that deprives the employee of compensation is null and void. An employment contract can move ownership; it cannot contract out of the payment.

Industrial Designs: The Cheap, Overlooked Right

An industrial design protects the ornamental or aesthetic appearance of an article, needs only novelty and compliance with public order and morals, costs AED 1,000 for an individual, and lasts 20 years from filing. Article 40 makes registration mandatory: no design is protected under this law unless it is recorded in the Register.

Article 46 gives the owner the right to stop third parties from using the design in making any product, and from importing, holding for commercial use, offering for sale or selling any product related to the design. Article 46(2) then forecloses the most common defense: an infringing act is not made lawful merely because it happens in a different field from the one the protected design is used in, or because it relates to a different product.

Two filing details matter. Article 41 allows one application to cover more than one design provided they all fall within the same class of the international classification. And the priority period for designs under Article 42(2) is six months from first filing, not the twelve months that applies to patents under Article 12(2). Miss the six-month window on a foreign design filing and the priority claim is gone.

Article 39 confirms that design protection does not prejudice the literary and artistic rights in the same object. A product’s appearance can be protected as a registered design and as a work of applied art under copyright at the same time, though the copyright term for applied art is only 25 years.

Trade Secrets Cost Nothing and Never Expire

Under Article 61, undisclosed information is protected with no registration and no fee, for as long as three conditions hold: it is secret, in the sense that it is not generally known or readily accessible to people in the relevant circles; it has commercial value because it is secret; and the person lawfully in control of it has taken reasonable steps to keep it secret.

The third condition is the one that decides cases. Article 63 requires the holder to take appropriate measures to maintain confidentiality, to organize and limit circulation within the establishment to authorized persons, and to prevent leakage. Article 63(3) states it plainly: the holder is not exempt from liability when others infringe the information unless it proves it exerted reasonable and adequate efforts to preserve it. Confidentiality clauses, access controls and a documented policy are not paperwork here; they are the precondition for having a right at all.

Article 64 lists what counts as an infringing acquisition, framed as acts contrary to fair commercial practice and therefore unfair competition: bribing employees for the information, inciting employees to disclose what they learned through their job, disclosure by a party to a confidentiality contract, acquisition through theft, espionage or other illicit means, acquisition by fraud, and use by a third party who knew the information was confidential and obtained that way.

Reverse engineering is expressly lawful

Article 65 lists four acquisitions that are not contrary to fair commercial practice, and the second is the significant one: acquiring information by exerting personal independent efforts to extract it through examination, testing and analysis of products circulating in the market that incorporate the undisclosed information. Independent research, development and improvement is also protected, as is acquiring information from public sources or from knowledge already circulating among practitioners in the field.

The practical consequence is that a trade secret only protects you against breaches of confidence and dishonest acquisition. It gives you nothing against a competitor who buys your product and takes it apart. Where a competitor could realistically do that, the invention belongs in a patent application, not in a confidentiality regime. Article 62 adds a specific extension for regulatory data: undisclosed information submitted to government authorities to market pharmaceutical or agricultural chemical products using new chemical entities must be protected against disclosure and unfair commercial use, until it is no longer confidential or for a maximum of five years, whichever is shorter.

What a Patent Lets You Do, and Its Limits

Article 19 gives the owner the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell and import the patented product and to prevent third parties from doing so without consent. Where the patent covers a process, the same rights extend to products obtained directly from that process. Article 19(3) limits all of it to acts performed for industrial or commercial purposes, and stops the rights extending to the protected product after it has been sold.

Three limits are easy to overlook:

  • Prior good-faith users keep going. Article 20 protects anyone who, in good faith, was already manufacturing a product, using the process, or making serious preparations to do so in the UAE before your filing or priority date. They may continue, but not expand, and the right cannot be transferred separately from the business benefiting from it.
  • Article 22 exceptions. The rights do not reach acts carried out for education and scientific research, use in means of transport temporarily or accidentally entering the UAE where limited to that vehicle’s needs, or a licensed pharmacist mixing two or more medicines for treatment.
  • Joint owners act independently on some things but not others. Article 23(1) lets each joint owner separately transfer their share and exploit the invention, but Article 23(2) bars any one of them from granting a licence to a third party without agreement between them.

Transfers and licences both have formality requirements. Article 21(2) requires a transfer to be in writing and signed at the Ministry, before a notary public in the UAE for authentication of the signatures, or otherwise duly authenticated, and recorded in the Register. Article 49 requires a contractual licence to be in writing and signed, and Article 50 makes it effective against third parties only from publication in the Industrial Property Bulletin. Under Article 21(4) and Article 54(2), the Ministry may refuse to record a transfer or licence that would lead to misuse of an industrial property right or adversely affect commercial competition.

Compulsory Licences

Article 25 allows any interested party to apply for a compulsory licence where at least three years have passed since grant without the owner exploiting the invention, or exploiting it inadequately. The applicant must prove it tried over a reasonable period to obtain a licence on reasonable commercial terms at a reasonable price. The licence is never exclusive, must meet local market needs, and the owner must receive fair compensation. Article 25(2) refuses the licence where the owner has valid grounds for its position.

Applications go to the court as a lawsuit against the owner, with the Ministry summoned to appear, and the court may allow a grace period for the parties to reach agreement (Article 29). Two shortcuts exist. Article 28 lets the court exempt an application from the Article 25 requirements where it is made for a state of emergency, crisis, disaster or urgent public need, or for non-commercial purposes. Article 30 lets the Minister issue a compulsory licence directly where the invention is important for the public interest, without the three-year wait and without the prior-negotiation requirement.

Enforcement and Penalties

Article 69 sets a single penalty band: imprisonment and/or a fine of not less than AED 100,000 and not more than AED 1,000,000 for providing false or forged documents to obtain a protection title, imitating an invention or process, or intentionally infringing any right protected under the law.

Alongside the criminal route, Article 67 lets the owner or the licensee sue for compensation for damage caused by infringement, and Article 68 lets them ask the court for a precautionary seizure order over the invention, design or layout-design, or over the establishment or the part of it exploiting the industrial property. Article 70 allows the court to order confiscation or destruction of seized articles and of the equipment used, removal of the effects of the illegal act, and publication of the judgment in the Industrial Property Bulletin or a local daily newspaper at the convicted party’s expense.

Article 52(2) is useful for licensees: unless the licence contract says otherwise, a licensee may use the owner’s rights to stop an infringement, an imminent infringement or a prejudice to the protected subject matter, and Article 52(3) lets either licensor or licensee take legal measures to protect the right.

The grievance you must file before going to court

Article 74 creates a committee formed by Cabinet decision, chaired by a judge nominated by the Minister of Justice with two industrial property experts, expressly excluding employees of the registry. It decides grievances against decisions issued under the law. Two sequencing rules control access:

  • Article 74(5): a grievance about the registration of a patent, utility certificate or industrial design is not considered unless the party first raises an objection with the registry by filing an application for re-examination after grant.
  • Article 74(7): no action is accepted before the courts unless a grievance has first been filed with the Committee.

Both steps are jurisdictional. Skipping either one gets the case thrown out on admissibility rather than decided on the merits, which is the same structure that governs trademark grievances at the Ministry.

International Applications

Article 37 confirms the Ministry receives international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, with conditions and procedures set by the Executive Regulations. Under Article 38, the international phase follows the PCT Regulations while the national phase follows the ordinary UAE application and fee rules in Articles 11 and 18. Article 12 allows a priority claim from one or more earlier applications filed in a treaty state, with a priority period of twelve months from the first filing for patents and utility certificates, and six months for industrial designs.

Applications and their attachments must be submitted in both Arabic and English under Article 11(8), with a grace period set by the Executive Regulations where they are not. Budget for certified legal translation of the specification and claims, which on a technical patent is a material cost in its own right.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to register a patent in the UAE?

The Ministry of Economy and Tourism charges AED 1,000 to file as an individual or AED 2,000 as a company, then AED 7,000 for the search and first substantive examination, and AED 5,000 for a second or third examination if one is requested. The first publication request and the grievance and objection stage carry no fee, though the payment process must still be completed. Annual fees are payable throughout the term of protection under Article 18(2), and agent and translation costs are separate.

How long does a UAE patent take to grant?

Roughly four to five years. The Ministry publishes three cumulative durations: about 7 months from submission to completion of the formal and legal examination, about 42 months from paying the examination fee to receiving the examination result, and about 3 months from paying the publication fee to issuance. Article 14 allows urgent applications to be examined ahead of others on criteria set in the Executive Regulations.

How long does patent protection last in the UAE?

Twenty years from the filing date of the application under Article 18(1). A utility model certificate lasts ten years from filing, an industrial design lasts twenty years from filing, and a layout-design of an integrated circuit lasts ten years from filing or from first commercial exploitation in the UAE or abroad, whichever is earlier. Annual fees must be paid throughout.

Can you patent software or an app in the UAE?

No. Article 7(1)(d) of Federal Law No. 11 of 2021 expressly excludes schemes, rules, computer programs and methods for doing business, performing mental acts or playing games from patent and utility certificate protection. Software is protected instead under Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2021 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights, automatically on creation, and the underlying commercial logic is usually protected as undisclosed information under Articles 61 to 65.

Who owns an invention I make at work in the UAE?

Usually the employer. Article 10(1) gives the patent right to the employer where the invention is made in execution of a contract, absent contrary contractual provisions, and deems any application filed by the inventor employee within two years of the end of service to have been made during service. Where the employee’s contract does not require inventive activity, the right passes to the employee four months after reporting the invention unless the employer declares its interest in writing within that period. Article 10(6) makes any agreement depriving the employee of compensation null and void.

What is the difference between a patent and a utility certificate in the UAE?

A patent requires novelty, an inventive step and industrial applicability, and lasts twenty years. Article 6(1) grants a utility model certificate for a new, industrially applicable invention that does not involve an innovative step qualifying for a patent, and it lasts ten years. Article 6(3) allows conversion between the two application types. Note that the Ministry’s published utility certificate service card still lists an inventive step among the requirements, which does not match Article 6(1), so confirm current practice with the Ministry.

Do I have to register a trade secret in the UAE?

No. Undisclosed information is protected under Article 61 with no registration and no fee, provided it is secret, has commercial value because it is secret, and the person lawfully in control has taken reasonable steps to keep it secret. Protection lasts indefinitely while those conditions hold. Article 63(3) makes the holder liable for its own failure unless it proves it exerted reasonable and adequate efforts to preserve confidentiality.

Is reverse engineering legal in the UAE?

Yes, as against a trade secret. Article 65(2) states that acquiring information by exerting personal independent efforts to extract it through examination, testing and analysis of products circulating in the market is not contrary to fair commercial practice. Independent research and development, acquisition from public sources, and use of knowledge already common among practitioners in the field are also permitted. A registered patent is a different matter, because Article 19 rights bind regardless of how the competitor learned the invention.

How much does it cost to register an industrial design in the UAE?

AED 1,000 for individuals and AED 2,000 for companies on the Ministry’s service card, with no separate examination or publication fee, and about three months from paying the publication fee to issuance of the certificate. Protection lasts twenty years from filing, annual fees apply, and Article 40 makes registration compulsory because no design is protected under the law unless recorded in the Register.

Can I sue directly for patent infringement in the UAE?

For infringement by a third party, yes: Article 67 allows a compensation claim and Article 68 allows an application for precautionary seizure. But for anything challenging a decision of the registry or the Ministry, Article 74(7) makes a court action inadmissible unless a grievance was first filed with the industrial property grievance committee, and Article 74(5) requires an application for re-examination after grant before a registration grievance is even considered.

Official Sources

Information is current as of August 2026. Every article number, term of protection, ownership rule, exception and penalty above was read from the official English text of Federal Law No. 11 of 2021 on the Regulation and Protection of Industrial Property Rights. Every fee, published duration and document rule was read from the Ministry of Economy and Tourism’s own service cards for patents, utility certificates and industrial designs. Four limitations are stated rather than smoothed over. The Ministry’s service cards were read through archived copies because moet.gov.ae was not reachable from our network at the time of writing, so confirm current fees and durations on the Ministry’s live service pages before filing or paying. The utility certificate service card lists an inventive step among its requirements and cites Federal Law No. 31 of 2006 as the examining law, both of which conflict with the current statute, and we have reported that conflict rather than resolving it. The annual maintenance fees required by Articles 18(2) and 45(2) are set by the Executive Regulations and are not stated on the service cards, so no annual figure is quoted here. And the fee tables cover the Ministry’s own charges only; registration agent fees, certified Arabic and English translation of the specification and claims, and PCT international phase fees are additional and are not published by the Ministry. The Arabic text of UAE legislation prevails in case of any conflict with an English translation. This is general information, not legal advice.