Agency over a registered mark
Trademark Power of Attorney in the UAE: Authority Over a Mark
A trademark is property, so an authority over it is read the same way as any other agency under UAE law. The document has to name the acts you want done and identify the mark itself beyond argument.
- Acts named, not implied
- Mark identified precisely
- Arabic legal translation
Trademark power of attorney in the UAE, in short
A trademark power of attorney lets someone act over a registered mark on the owner’s behalf. UAE law judges it by the same agency articles as any other authority, so the acts wanted have to be written in and the mark has to be identified.
Governing law
Federal Decree-Law 25/2025, Articles 866 to 903
Form of agency
Special where a disposition is named
Mark identified by
Registration number and class, copied exactly
Why a mark can be put in someone else’s hands
A registered trademark is property. It can be owned, assigned to someone else and licensed to someone else to use, which means the owner can also appoint a person to deal with it. Nothing in UAE law treats that appointment as its own species of document. It is an agency, and the agency articles in Federal Decree-Law 25/2025, the Civil Transactions Law, decide what your wording actually buys.
That is why this page spends its time on wording rather than on procedure. The same two articles that govern a special power of attorney govern this one, and a mark held by a company brings the signing rules of a company power of attorney with it. What changes is the subject, and the care needed to describe it.
How Articles 870 and 871 read a trademark instruction
UAE agency law sits in Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 at Articles 866 to 903. It repealed Federal Law 5 of 1985, so the Article 955 citation still copied across provider pages points at a statute that is no longer in force. Article 870(1) requires a special agency, naming the act and the dispositions it entails, for anything beyond management and preservation. Article 871(1) then says what happens when the drafter reaches for broad words instead.
Article 871(1), Civil Transactions Law
If the agency is expressed in general terms without specifying what is intended, it shall only grant the agent the power to perform acts of management.
How the mark has to be identified
A power of attorney over property identifies the property. A trademark is no different from a plot or a vehicle in that respect, and the same discipline applies: the reader should be able to tell which mark is meant without asking.
- The registration number, copied from the certificate character for character rather than typed out from memory or from an email.
- The class the mark is registered in, stated as it appears on the certificate and not summarised into a description of the goods.
- The mark itself, written out as it is registered, including any wording, spelling and styling that the certificate records.
- The owner of record, named exactly as the certificate names it, so the party granting the authority and the owner read as one.
- Every mark you want covered, listed one by one, because a document that mentions our trademarks covers nothing you can point to.
- Where the mark is registered, so nobody can take the authority as reaching a different register in a different place.
Dealing with the mark against looking after it
Article 870(1) turns on whether an act is management and preservation or something more. The honest position is not to argue the classification for a particular filing, but to name the acts you want and let the wording carry them.
Disposition
Assigning or licensing the mark
Moving ownership of a mark, or granting someone the right to use it, gives something away. Article 870(1) puts that kind of act in the special agency, named in the document.
Management
Filing and keeping a mark alive
Filing an application, or renewing what is already registered, may sit closer to management. Naming it costs nothing, and it removes the argument about which side of Article 870(1) the act falls.
From your instructions to a ratified document
Our lawyers and legal consultants draft, translate and run the file. The signing and ratification happen before a notary public, which is a separate office and always will be.
1
List the acts you want
Tell us what the agent is meant to do with the mark, act by act. We draft from that list rather than from a general instruction to handle trademark matters.
2
Copy the mark details across
We take the registration number, the class and the owner’s name straight from the certificate, so the document and the certificate cannot disagree with each other later.
3
Draft and translate into Arabic
Instruments in Dubai are drawn in Arabic, and a foreign language document is accepted with a certified translation, both versions signed. We use a legal translator registered with the Ministry of Justice.
4
Sign and ratify the document
Signing happens before a notary public, with an Emirates ID or passport. Dubai notaries sit under Dubai Law 4/2013, and the archived Dubai Courts service page describes virtual or personal attendance.
The papers that travel with a trademark file
Dubai Courts sets out its own document list for ratifying a power of attorney. Where the terms chosen are the trademark terms, the list asks for the trademark registration certificate as a PDF. That wording is read from an archived copy of the Dubai Courts service page, snapshot dated 16 March 2023, so treat it as the shape of the requirement and confirm it against the live page before you rely on it.
From the owner of the mark
Identity first
- Emirates ID, or a passport where you are not resident in the UAE.
- Your full name written exactly as the trademark certificate records the owner.
- Company papers where the owner of record is a company rather than a person.
- Soft copies in PDF, which is the format the Dubai Courts list asks for.
For the person you appoint
Named, not described
- The Emirates ID number, or a copy of the Emirates ID or passport, as that list puts it.
- Full name spelled as it appears on that identity document, not a shortened version.
- The acts you want that person to hold, written out one by one.
- Whether a sub-agent may be appointed, since revoking the main agency revokes those under it.
For the mark itself
The certificate leads
- The trademark registration certificate in PDF, which the Dubai Courts list names directly.
- The registration number and the class, copied across rather than retyped from memory.
- An Arabic legal translation by a legal translator registered with the Ministry of Justice.
- For papers from abroad, attestation by the issuing country, the UAE embassy there and MOFAIC.
Where trademark wording comes apart
Most of what goes wrong here is drafting, not procedure. These are the habits that leave an agent holding a document that does not reach the act they were sent to perform, and the ones that avoid it.
- A general instruction to handle all trademark matters, which Article 871(1) leaves as acts of management only.
- A mark described by name alone, with no registration number and no class, so the document could be read onto something else.
- A revocation clause built on Article 955 of the 1985 Civil Code, a statute that has been repealed.
- Each act named, so an assignment or a licence sits on the face of the document rather than being argued for afterwards.
- The mark identified from the certificate, with the owner of record and the granting party reading as the same person.
- A term written in, because Article 897 extinguishes an agency on expiry of the term specified for it.
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often on this one.
What is a trademark power of attorney in the UAE?
It is an ordinary agency that happens to be about a registered mark. UAE law has no separate category for it, so Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 applies as it would to any other authority. The document names the acts the agent may carry out over the mark and identifies the mark itself.
Does the mark have to be named by registration number?
Name it by number and by class, taken from the certificate. A power of attorney over property identifies the property, and a mark is no different from a plot or a vehicle in that respect. A document that refers to our trademarks in general gives an agent nothing specific to act on.
Can one document cover assigning and licensing a mark?
Yes, if both acts are written into it. Assigning a mark and licensing it are dispositions, and Article 870(1) asks for a special agency that specifies the type of act and the dispositions it entails. Two acts wanted means two acts named, not one broad phrase intended to cover both.
Is filing or renewing a mark an act of management?
It may sit closer to management than a sale does, but that is an argument you do not need to have. Article 871(1) leaves general wording with acts of management only, so the safe course is to name filing and renewal in the document alongside anything else the agent is meant to do.
Which document does Dubai Courts ask for on a trademark matter?
Its published service list asks you to upload the trademark registration certificate in PDF where the trademark terms are selected. That wording comes from an archived copy of the Dubai Courts page, snapshot dated 16 March 2023, so treat it as the shape of the requirement and confirm it against the live page.
What are the published fees for notarising a power of attorney?
The federal schedule in Cabinet Resolution 19/2024 sets AED 100 per party for executing or notarising a general or special power of attorney, AED 130 through a private notary, and AED 50 a page for notarising a translation included in the instrument. Dubai Courts sits outside that schedule under Dubai Law 4/2013.
Our mark is owned abroad. What happens to the paperwork?
The UAE is not a party to the Apostille Convention, so an apostille does not carry a document in. A power of attorney signed abroad is attested by the foreign ministry of the issuing country, then by the UAE embassy or consulate there, then by MOFAIC in the UAE, with an Arabic legal translation.
How does an owner end an agent’s authority over a mark?
Article 898 lets the principal revoke or restrict the agent’s authority at any time, unless a third party’s right is involved or the agency was issued in the agent’s interest. Article 899 adds compensation where revocation comes at an inappropriate time or without acceptable justification. Revoking a main agency revokes the sub-agencies under it.
Start here
Send us the certificate and the list of acts
Send the trademark registration certificate and a plain list of what you want the agent to be able to do. Our lawyers and legal consultants draft the wording around those acts, identify the mark from the certificate, and arrange the Arabic legal translation. The document is then signed and ratified before a notary public, and we tell you what each stage needs before you get there.
Tell us what the document has to do
Say who will receive it and what you need it to allow, and you will get a straight answer on the wording, the government fees and what to bring. You can also send it through the contact form.
Call us
Speak to the person who will handle your file and get an answer on the same call.
Send photographs of your passport, your Emirates ID and anything the matter attaches to.
Best for a company matter, or anything that runs to several documents.
Visit the office
Jebel Ali area, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai. Come in, or have it handled remotely and only turn up to sign.
Opening hours. Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 18:00. Friday, 9:00 to 12:00. Saturday, 9:00 to 18:00. Sunday, closed.