There are more than 200 regions and countries in the world with different manners and customs. Because of special customs, religions or some special taboos, there will be some special aspects in the trademark registration in some countries. Such as, Madagas is wary of using an owl as a mark because owls are considered bad omen in this region. Egypt is wary of using a crocodile as as trademark, because the crocodile is sacred in this country. Some countries in West Asia and Africa have restrictions on goods and class in the application for the trademark registration due to the religions. For example, trademarks on designated pork goods and wines cannot be registered in UAE due to the Islam religion. For facilitating applicants to apply for trademark applications in relevant country as reference, as per the writer’s practical experience, we summary the table below for enterprises’ consideration.

Kindly note that the information included in the table above will be updated according to review practice.

In practice, for the purpose of protecting the trademark rights in regions/countries that prohibited the registration of alcoholic beverage-related goods, some companies usually choose to register their trademarks in class 32, designating non-alcoholic goods. Although it is not registered on the alcoholic goods, it can still prevent others from registering identical or similar trademarks on non-alcoholic goods, furthermore, prevent its trademark rights and goodwill from being used or usurpated by a third party. 

Trademark is the concentrated expression of a company’s image and goodwill, as well as the carrier of reputation. If the applicant encounters relevant issues in the trademark protection, they can seek advice from professional agencies, so as to better build the applicant’s own protection barrier and protect the trademark rights from infringement.