Expo Dubai will put a spotlight upon trade with Gulf and neighboring countries., If you wish to protect your brands in that area, it is good to know that following a recent amendment to the trademark legislation in force in the Middle East countries, there is a need/recommendation to consolidate the protection of a verbal or figurative trademark with a verbal component by registering the relevant version in Arabic characters.
More specifically, in Iran, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia it is fundamental and implicitly mandatory to file the Arabic version of a Trademark, in order to guarantee more complete protection. In fact, if third parties decide to file the equivalent of your trademark in Arabic characters, the same would not be opposable with the simple pre-existence of your respective version in Latin characters.
There are also some countries, including Jordan and Iraq, where this procedure is imperative in relation to class 35.
Last but not least, in Algeria, Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates the procedure indicated above is strongly recommended (for Qatar limited to classes 35 and 39).
Finally, it should be remembered that in Saudi Arabia trademarks containing graphic symbols identical or similar to Christian Cross are rejected.