Historic Legislative Development
The Trademark Act establishes the country's first comprehensive statutory framework for trademark protection, featuring examination procedures, opposition mechanisms, well-known mark protection, and civil and criminal enforcement remedies. The Act is scheduled to come into force twelve months after enactment, providing a transition period for stakeholders to prepare and for the government to establish the necessary administrative infrastructure.
Institutional Framework: The Maldives IP Office Act 2025
The Trademark Act will operate alongside the Maldives Intellectual Property Office Act 2025 (Law No. 12/2025), which establishes a dedicated IP office responsible for examining applications, maintaining the register, conducting oppositions, and administering enforcement. The IP Office Act takes effect 1 January 2026 — a ten-month head start before the Trademark Act's substantive provisions activate, intended to let administrative capacity and systems be in place before applications can be filed.
Regulatory Timeline
Implementing regulations — covering application procedures, fee schedules, examination standards, and recordal procedures — must be published no later than 11 May 2027, eighteen months after enactment. Until published, several operational details remain unclear, and practitioners should monitor regulatory developments closely.
Key Features of the Act
- Broad trademark definition — "any sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of another," encompassing words, devices, shapes, patterns, and combinations, opening the door to non-conventional marks subject to implementing regulations on graphical representation.
- Certification and collective marks — statutory recognition for the first time, enabling associations, cooperatives, and geographical indication groups to protect collective branding.
- Convention priority — a six-month priority claim window, though its practical utility is currently limited since the Maldives has not yet acceded to the Paris Convention.
- Well-known mark protection — preventing registration and use of identical or similar marks on dissimilar goods where a connection with the well-known mark owner would be implied and damaging, aligned with Paris Convention and TRIPS standards.
- Substantive examination on absolute and relative grounds — including distinctiveness, descriptiveness, and conflicts with earlier marks.
- Three-month opposition period following publication.
- Ten-year renewable registration terms, with a six-month grace period for late renewal.
- Non-use cancellation — registrations become vulnerable to cancellation after five years of non-use, subject to a genuine-use or valid-reasons defence.
- Civil and criminal remedies — injunctions, damages/account of profits, delivery-up and destruction, and criminal penalties for intentional infringement and counterfeiting.
- Border control enforcement — customs recordal and seizure powers, significant given the Maldives' role as both an import destination and a regional transshipment point.
The Critical Open Question: Status of Existing Cautionary Notices
For decades, trademark protection in the Maldives has relied on cautionary notices published in newspapers and official gazettes. The Act contains no express transitional provisions governing how existing cautionary-notice holders are treated under the new system — creating genuine legal uncertainty as to whether publication history confers any statutory priority or seniority.
Notwithstanding the absence of statutory priority, existing cautionary notices are expected to retain real evidential value: as proof of prior use and acquired distinctiveness, as support in opposition proceedings against conflicting applications, as grounds for well-known mark claims, and as a defence to non-use cancellation. Given this uncertainty, we strongly recommend that trademark owners maintain their existing cautionary notice publications until the new system is fully operational and formal registration has been secured.
A Reported Transition Period — Still Unconfirmed in Law
It has been reported in IP circles that the government intends a twelve-month transition window (11 November 2026 to 11 November 2027) during which cautionary-notice holders may secure priority registration before the general public can apply for the same marks. However, absent express statutory language, the legal mechanism for this remains unclear — including which notices would qualify, what evidence would be required, and how competing cautionary-notice claims to the same mark would be resolved. Rights holders should watch the implementing regulations (due by 11 May 2027) closely for clarification.
Strategic Recommendations for Rights Holders
- Audit existing trademark portfolios to identify all marks currently protected via cautionary notice, and assess priority for formal registration under the new Act.
- Compile and organise documentation evidencing prior use — dated samples of use, sales data, market recognition evidence, and cautionary notice publication records.
- Monitor the implementing regulations for procedural requirements, fees, and any transitional provisions.
- Maintain existing cautionary notice publications throughout the transition period.
- Prepare to file promptly once the registration system opens, particularly if a transitional priority period materialises for cautionary-notice holders.
International Alignment
The Act positions the Maldives for fuller participation in the international IP system. The country has not yet acceded to the Paris Convention, the Madrid Protocol, or the Nice Agreement, but establishing a modern registration system aligned with international standards is an essential precondition for such accessions — a trajectory the Act's convention-priority and well-known-mark provisions clearly signal.