<p>The Supreme Court found against a registered trademark in the UAE incorporating the word &ldquo;MAKKAH&rdquo; and found that the name MAKKAH represents a religious symbol which is incapable of registration and use.<br /><br />This Court decision, which is binding on the lower Courts in the UAE, addressed for the first time in detail, a specific example for trademarks that represent or incorporate a religious symbol. For some brand owners, this judgment came as a shock after many years of using and commercializing trademarks incorporating the word mark &ldquo;MAKKAH&rdquo;. It was also a shock that such ruling was not issued by the Saudi Arabia courts nor by the Al Azhar Islamic Shari&rsquo;a scholars in Egypt.<br /><br />&ldquo;MAKKAH&rdquo; or &ldquo;MECCA&rdquo; is a city in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Makkah refers to the name of the city where the holy sites including Al Haram Mosque and the Ka&rsquo;ba are seated. The Al Haram mosque is the most sacred mosque for Muslims and surrounds the Ka&rsquo;ba, a structure built by the Prophets Ibraheem and his son Ismaeel, representing a direction all Muslims around the world face towards during prayers and where pilgrims perform one of their pillars of Haj.<br /><br />Prior to this judgment, the Trademarks Office and Courts have treated the word Makkah, when commercialized in a trademark, as a geographical indication that is not automatically protected without, either a justified link to the geographical indication and/or a disclaimer to the ownership of the name MAKKAH. No longer though are disclaimers acceptable in the UAE for the word MAKKAH.<br /><br />The Ministry of Economy, representing the Trademarks Section and the Trademarks Committee contested the Court of Appeals judgment, finding in favor of the owner of a beverage brand named MAKKAH COLA, a soft drink sold in number of markets throughout the Arab states. The brand owner argued that &ldquo;MAKKAH&rdquo; as a geographical place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not represent a religious symbol as the religious symbols are manifested by the Ka&rsquo;ba and the Al Haram Mosque rather than the entire city. This argument was supported by Fatwa, being a religious finding, that the place &ldquo;MAKKAH&rdquo; is not a holy site. However the Union Supreme Court reversed the appealed judgment which previously found &ldquo;MAKKAH Cola&rdquo; as capable of protection and had concluded that &ldquo;MAKKAH&rdquo; does not represent a religious symbol. The Supreme Court reasoned its reversal on the basis that the city of &ldquo;MAKKAH&rdquo; comprises of many religious sites apart from the Ka&rsquo;ba where it hosts &ldquo;Jebel Arafat&rdquo; as well as Mina and Al Muzdalifa which are religious sites and combine together to add to the religious nature of &ldquo;MAKKAH&rdquo;. Accordingly, the Court found that &ldquo;MAKKAH&rdquo; is therefore considered a holy city and a religious symbol, prohibited from being registered as a trademark, pursuant to Article 3 of the UAE Trademarks Law No 37 for the year 1992.<br /><br />This judgment is final and cannot be further appealed nor reversed except by a subsequent Union Supreme Court judgment. As such, the Trademarks Section in the Ministry of Economy will accordingly reject trademark applications incorporating the word &ldquo;MAKKAH&rdquo;. This judgment is very unique in that it is not aligned with findings of Courts in neighboring countries and therefore brand owners with &ldquo;MAKKAH&rdquo; brands sold in the Arab region will have to reconsider their branding for the UAE.</p>