Types of Trademarks in the Maldives

Having had no trademark statute at all, the Maldives has gone straight to a modern definition. The Act’s list of what a mark may consist of is broad, and it includes categories that older statutes in the region reached only by amendment.

Quick reference

The definition

A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one party from those of another — the standard modern formulation, and the same test applied across the region.

What the Act then lists as registrable is wider than that test strictly requires, and the breadth is deliberate: words, letters, numerals, logos, symbols, figurative elements, patterns and shapes, and combinations of these.

Two of those deserve attention.

Patterns. A repeating design — on packaging, fabric, a hotel’s interiors — is expressly within scope. In a tourism economy where resort branding runs through textiles, signage and print, that is a more useful category than it might appear.

Shapes. Product and container shapes are within scope. Most statutes that allow shape marks also exclude purely functional ones; whether and how the Maldives Act does so in detail is a point to confirm against the regulations and early practice.

Words, logos and devices

The ordinary categories behave as expected. A word mark protects the word; a device protects the thing as drawn; a composite protects the combination, with the word element protected separately only so far as it is itself distinctive.

Two practical points specific to the Maldives.

Script. The Maldives writes Dhivehi in Thaana, a right-to-left script. A brand trading locally may want the Thaana rendering of its name protected alongside the Latin one. Whether that is one application or two, and how transliteration is handled, is a question for the regulations — but it is a decision to take before filing rather than after.

Clear representation. The Act requires a clear representation of the mark. For anything beyond a plain word, prepare the artwork properly.

Colour

The Act requires any colour claim to be expressly declared on filing.

That makes colour a decision rather than a default, and the decision usually goes one way: file without a colour claim unless the colour is genuinely part of what distinguishes the mark. A registration without a colour limitation is normally the broader right; claiming the brand palette narrows it to that palette.

Where colour is the distinguishing feature — a resort group known by a specific shade, a product whose packaging colour is the recognition cue — claim it, and claim it precisely.

Collective and certification marks

Both are registrable under the Act.

A collective mark distinguishes the goods or services of members of an association from those of non-members. The association owns it; the members use it under its rules.

A certification mark indicates that goods or services meet a defined standard — origin, material, method, quality. The certifier owns it and does not, as a rule, trade in the goods it certifies.

For the Maldives specifically, both have obvious application: fisheries and tourism are the economy, and both are sectors where origin and standards marks do real commercial work. A “Maldivian” origin or sustainability mark for reef fish or tuna, or a resort-standards mark, are the kinds of thing these categories exist for.

The conditions — what rules must be filed, who may own one, how use is controlled — are the sort of detail the implementing regulations will set. Expect to prepare a governing-rules document.

Well-known marks

A mark that is well known occupies its own position, because protection does not depend on holding a Maldivian registration. Conflict with a well-known mark is among the grounds on which an application may be opposed.

For a brand with international reputation and no Maldivian filing, that is the fallback during the transition — and it is a fallback, not a plan. See well-known trademarks in the Maldives.

What is not yet settled

The Act gives the categories. The regulations will give the mechanics, and until they issue the following are genuinely open:

• how non-conventional marks are represented, if sounds or motion are admitted at all;
• whether series or multi-mark applications exist;
• the classification edition and whether applications are single or multi-class;
• the rules governing collective and certification marks in detail.

Confirm any of these with MIPO before building a filing programme around them.

Frequently asked questions

What can be registered as a trademark in the Maldives? Words, letters, numerals, logos, symbols, figurative elements, patterns and shapes, and combinations of these, provided the sign distinguishes one party’s goods or services from another’s.

Are patterns and shapes really registrable? Yes, both are expressly within the Act’s list of registrable signs.

Should I claim colour? Only where colour is genuinely part of what distinguishes the mark. The Act requires a colour claim to be expressly declared, and claiming it narrows the registration to that colour.

Can I register my brand in Thaana script? A Thaana rendering is worth protecting for a brand trading locally. How that is handled procedurally is a question for the implementing regulations.

Does the Maldives allow collective and certification marks? Yes, both are registrable. Expect to prepare rules governing use, with the detail set by the regulations.

Do I need a registration to rely on well-known mark status? No. Conflict with a well-known mark is a ground of opposition, and that protection does not depend on holding a Maldivian registration.

Useful official resources

• Maldives Intellectual Property Office
• Maldives Government Gazette — the Act as published
• Trademarks Act, Law No. 19/2025

See our related notes on filing a trademark in the Maldives, marks that cannot be registered and well-known trademarks.

Deciding which forms of a Maldivian brand to protect? Talk to us.