When your brand needs more than a filing service.
Your brand operates across borders. Your trademark protection should too. Set In Motion IP is a specialist intellectual property practice that manages trademark registration, opposition, litigation and portfolio strategy in every market you operate in — through a global network of qualified local counsel, coordinated by senior lawyers from a single point of contact.Not a platform. Not a form-filler. Practising lawyers.
Decades of combined IP litigation experience · Global network of qualified local counsel · One point of contact for every jurisdiction
There is no shortage of platforms that will file your trademark for a flat fee.They will take your details, submit the application, and send you a certificate when it arrives. What they will not do is tell you whether the filing was strategically sound — whether you chose the right classes, whether a conflicting mark on the register should have been cleared first, or what to do when the registry raises an objection three months later and your window to respond is closing.Trademark registration is the easy part. Building a portfolio that actually protects your brand — across the jurisdictions your competitors operate in, structured to support licensing and enforcement, managed so that nothing lapses or falls through the cracks — requires lawyers, not software.Filing a trademark is a transaction. Protecting a brand is a practice. That is the difference between what platforms offer and what we do.
The Problem (Why Not Just Use a Filing Platform)
There is no shortage of platforms that will file your trademark for a flat fee.They will take your details, submit the application, and send you a certificate when it arrives. What they will not do is tell you whether the filing was strategically sound — whether you chose the right classes, whether a conflicting mark on the register should have been cleared first, or what to do when the registry raises an objection three months later and your window to respond is closing.Trademark registration is the easy part. Building a portfolio that actually protects your brand — across the jurisdictions your competitors operate in, structured to support licensing and enforcement, managed so that nothing lapses or falls through the cracks — requires lawyers, not software.Filing a trademark is a transaction. Protecting a brand is a practice.That is the difference between what platforms offer and what we do.→ See Services
Global Reach
Wherever your brand needs to be protected, we can get it there.We coordinate trademark protection across every major commercial jurisdiction — the Gulf and GCC, the United Kingdom, the European Union, North America, South Asia, and markets across Asia, Africa, Australia and Latin America — through a carefully selected network of qualified local counsel managed directly by our practice.You do not inherit a patchwork of unconnected local agents filing forms in your name. You get a single legal practice managing your entire global trademark position coherently — with one strategy, one point of accountability, and no gaps.Our core markets include the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, the United States, and South Asia. Beyond these, we coordinate filings anywhere your business requires coverage.→ See Jurisdictions
Your brand is worth protecting properly.Most trademark problems are not discovered at the moment of filing. They surface eighteen months later, in a jurisdiction you forgot to cover, against a competitor who filed two weeks before you. By then, the options are expensive and the outcomes uncertain.The right time to build a proper global trademark strategy is before you need it.Submit your details and we will respond within one business day with a clear assessment and a fixed-fee quote — no obligation, no ambiguity.
About
Set In Motion IP is a specialist intellectual property practice built for businesses whose brands do not stop at one border.We handle trademark registration, opposition, prosecution, litigation, and portfolio management in every market your business operates in or intends to enter. Through a carefully selected network of qualified local counsel across the Gulf, South Asia, Europe, North America, and beyond, we coordinate protection worldwide — with one strategy, one point of contact, and no gaps.Our founding practitioners are qualified, practising lawyers — not agents, not administrators, not a filing platform with a legal veneer. We have litigated trademark disputes at the highest court levels, argued before IP Tribunals and customs authorities, and built multi-jurisdictional protection strategies for businesses ranging from early-stage founders to established international brands managing portfolios across dozens of countries.What we provide is not simply access to local filers in different jurisdictions. We provide strategic oversight of your entire trademark position — advising on where to file, in which classes, in which sequence, and through which route. We then instruct and manage the right local practitioner in each market on your behalf, coordinate all correspondence centrally, and ensure that your protection strategy remains coherent across every jurisdiction simultaneously.You do not inherit a patchwork of unconnected local agents. You get a single practice that manages the whole picture — and that is accountable to you for all of it.When you instruct Set In Motion IP, you deal with a senior lawyer from the first conversation to the last. We tell you what the risk is, not what you want to hear. And we build your trademark portfolio as the commercial asset it actually is — something that underpins the value of your business, enables licensing and franchising, deters competitors, and travels with you wherever your ambitions take you.Your brand is global. Your protection should be too.
What we do
From registration to enforcement — we handle every stage of your brand's protection across every jurisdiction you need.
Trademark Registration
End-to-end trademark filing across 8+ jurisdictions. We handle clearance searches, class strategy, application drafting, prosecution and registration — with lawyers reviewing every step, not software.Jurisdictions: Pakistan · UAE · Saudi Arabia · UK · Canada · USA · EU · GCC
Opposition & Prosecution
When your application faces opposition — or when you need to oppose a conflicting mark — you need litigators, not administrators. We have argued hundreds of opposition proceedings and know how registries actually work.Jurisdictions: Pakistan · UAE · UK · Canada · USA
IP Litigation
Infringement, passing off, counterfeiting, customs seizures, injunctions and damages. Our litigators have argued IP cases all the way to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. We fight for your brand when it matters most.Jurisdictions: Pakistan · UAE · GCC
Portfolio Management
For brands with existing multi-jurisdictional portfolios, we provide ongoing management, renewal monitoring, watch services and strategic advice — acting as a single point of contact across all your markets.Jurisdictions: All jurisdictions
Cross-Border Enforcement
Brand infringement rarely stays in one country. We coordinate enforcement strategies across the Gulf, South Asia and international markets — working with trusted local counsel to deliver coherent, multi-front protection.Jurisdictions: Pakistan · UAE · Saudi Arabia · UK · GCC
IP Due Diligence & Advisory
For investors, acquirers and businesses entering new markets — we assess IP portfolios, identify risks, advise on licensing structures and ensure your intellectual property assets are properly valued and protected.Jurisdictions: Pakistan · UAE · UK · Canada
Where We Practice
Eight jurisdictions. One point of contact. We coordinate your global brand protection strategy so you never have to manage multiple local firms across multiple countries.
🇨🇦 Canada
🇪🇺 European Union
CIPO trademark registration and prosecution. Ideal for Gulf and South Asian brands entering the Canadian market or protecting against infringing importation of goods into Canada.
EUIPO filings covering all 27 EU member states with a single application. Combined UK and EU strategy available for maximum European coverage post-Brexit.
🇵🇰 Pakistan
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
Registration, opposition, and full litigation capability — from IP Tribunals to the Supreme Court. Hundreds of successful registrations. Multiple reported judgments. The deepest IP litigation expertise in our practice.
Registration with SAIP — the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property. GCC-wide brand protection coordination across all six Gulf states available through our trusted local counsel network.
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Trademark registration via MOESAT. Corporate structuring across RAKEZ, Meydan and IFZA. DIAC arbitration empanelment for IP disputes. Our most active jurisdiction outside Pakistan.
UKIPO filings and prosecution. Post-Brexit brand strategy for businesses requiring both UK and EU coverage. Coordinated with trusted UK IP solicitors for seamless execution.
🇺🇸 United States
🌍 Additional Markets
USPTO filing and prosecution. Amazon Brand Registry support. US trademark protection coordinated alongside your other jurisdictions for a coherent international brand strategy.
Through our trusted local counsel network, we coordinate trademark registrations across additional jurisdictions on request — including further GCC states, Australia, China, and beyond.
Pricing
We provide fixed, transparent pricing across all jurisdictions. Every quote includes our professional fee and all relevant government filing fees — with no hidden costs.Rather than fixed tiers, we quote based on your specific needs — the number of marks, jurisdictions, and classes required. Submit your trademark details using the form below and we will respond with a precise quote within one business day.
Insights
Why Registering Your Trademark in the UAE Is Not the Same as Protecting It in the GCC
You have registered your trademark in the UAE. The Ministry of Economy certificate is framed, the mark is on the registry, and you are confident your brand is protected. Then you discover a competitor in Saudi Arabia is using an almost identical name, a distributor in Kuwait is selling counterfeit goods under your mark, and a supplier in Qatar has registered a confusingly similar logo in their own name.Your UAE registration does not help you with any of it.This is one of the most common and costly misconceptions among Gulf business owners, and it stems from a reasonable assumption: that the GCC, as an economic and political bloc, functions more like the European Union for trademark purposes than it actually does. It does not. Understanding why — and what to do about it — is one of the most important things a growing Gulf business can know.There Is No Unified GCC TrademarkUnlike the European Union, which allows a single EU Trademark application to cover all 27 member states, there is no equivalent unified GCC trademark that provides protection across all six Gulf Cooperation Council countries — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — through a single filing. Igerent
Each GCC state has its own trademark registry, its own examination process, its own opposition procedures, and its own enforcement regime. A trademark registered in the UAE is a UAE asset. It gives you rights in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and the other emirates. It gives you no rights whatsoever in Riyadh, Kuwait City, Doha, or Muscat.For a business operating across the Gulf, this means that protecting your brand properly requires a multi-jurisdictional strategy — not a single filing.The Madrid Protocol: Useful, But Not UniversalThere is a partial shortcut available. The Madrid Protocol allows trademark owners to file a single international application designating multiple countries, which can simplify the administrative process significantly. Currently, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar are members of the Madrid Protocol, meaning businesses can designate those countries through a Madrid application.However — and this is a critical point — Saudi Arabia and Kuwait still require national filings, meaning a Madrid application alone will not give you complete GCC coverage. Igerent If Saudi Arabia is a significant market for your business, and for most Gulf-facing brands it is the largest, you will need a separate national application through the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property regardless of your Madrid strategy.There is also a practical consideration that Madrid filings often obscure: a Madrid application is built on your home country registration. If that base registration is challenged, cancelled, or narrowed in the first five years, your international designations are vulnerable to the same fate. For businesses whose primary market is the Gulf rather than their country of origin, the Madrid route requires careful structuring.What a Proper GCC Strategy Looks LikeA coherent brand protection strategy for a Gulf-facing business typically involves several elements working together.First, a UAE national filing should be made early — often before launch if possible, since UAE trademark protection is based on registration rather than prior use, meaning the first party to file generally has superior rights regardless of who used the mark first in the market. Iclg Filing before a competitor does is always preferable to attempting to dislodge them afterwards.
Second, a Saudi national filing should run in parallel for any business with meaningful Saudi operations or distribution. Saudi Arabia is the largest economy in the GCC and has been actively modernising its IP enforcement regime through the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property. The registration process is increasingly efficient, and the cost of not being registered when an infringement problem arises far exceeds the cost of the filing itself.Third, for markets like Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar, the Madrid route or national filings depending on your home base and filing strategy should be considered alongside your UAE and Saudi applications rather than as afterthoughts.Finally, portfolio management does not end at registration. UAE trademark registrations are valid for ten years and must be renewed during the final year of protection, with a six-month grace period available on payment of additional fees. Movingo Missed renewal deadlines are one of the most common and entirely avoidable ways businesses lose trademark rights they have paid to acquire.The Cost of Getting This WrongThe costs of inadequate GCC trademark coverage are not theoretical. Businesses that operate across the Gulf without proper multi-jurisdictional registrations regularly encounter situations where a competitor or bad-faith filer has registered their mark in a country they neglected to cover. Cancelling or challenging a registered mark is significantly more expensive and time-consuming than registering preventively — and the outcome is never certain.Courts in the region have ordered counterfeiters to pay damages, confiscate stock, and publish apologies in national newspapers. The Vista Corp But these remedies are available primarily — and most powerfully — to rights-holders with registered marks in the relevant jurisdiction. Unregistered rights offer far weaker protection in the Gulf than in common law jurisdictions, and attempting to rely on market reputation alone in infringement proceedings is an uphill battle that could have been avoided entirely.Getting It RightThere is no single filing that protects a Gulf-facing brand across the GCC. There is only a considered, jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction strategy executed by lawyers who understand how these registries actually work — not just how to fill in the forms.
If you are operating across the Gulf and are not certain whether your trademark coverage matches your commercial footprint, the honest answer is: it probably does not. Most businesses discover the gap when the problem has already arrived.The better time to address it is before then.Set In Motion IP advises businesses on multi-jurisdictional trademark strategy across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the wider GCC. To discuss your brand protection requirements, contact us at [email protected].