Architects Of Trust: Alsuwaidi & Company

Alsuwaidi & Company, the Emirati-founded law firm, brings courtroom experience to the commercial assets businesses rely on, from contractual claims to the identity of a brand.

Three conflicting trademark registrations, cancelled. In May 2025, Alsuwaidi & Company reported acting for the registered owner of the Police trademark in the UAE. According to the firm, Dubai Courts ordered the cancellation of three conflicting registrations in the clothing, footwear and headgear category. Its account said the court accepted arguments concerning earlier rights and bad faith, and that the judgment had become final and enforceable.

It’s a vivid reminder of how exposed a brand can be. One may assume that a registration settles the matter, but a brand that took years to build can come under pressure from a single confusingly similar name. Registration is an important part of its legal protection. Defending that protection, however, can require evidence of prior use, a clear account of the competing claims and the ability to pursue a remedy through the courts.

Here, commercial value and legal procedure cannot be pulled apart. A trademark represents investment in recognition and reputation; enforcing it means presenting that commercial history in a form a court can assess. For the business owner, the practical goal is to keep a clear line between its own products and those entering the market under a competing sign.

Alsuwaidi & Company was established in 1997 by Mohammed Rashed Alsuwaidi, its Founder and Managing Partner. Before setting up the practice, he headed the legal department of Emirates General Petroleum Corporation, known as Emarat. That earlier in-house role adds a business perspective to a career later centered on private practice and dispute resolution.

His experience spans domestic and international arbitration, as well as UAE court practice. The Dubai International Arbitration Centre’s biography records a license to appear before UAE courts dating to 1986, along with experience under several international arbitration rules. For a commercial client, these are simply different arenas in which the same concern can come up: how to establish a right and obtain an effective remedy.

Today, Alsuwaidi & Company lists offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ajman. Its wider work includes corporate advice, construction disputes, maritime matters and intellectual property. The Police trademark matter gives that breadth a tangible reference point, showing the kind of asset a business may need to defend even when its day-to-day activity seems far removed from litigation.

Agreements and registrations only take on their full commercial meaning when they can be relied on under challenge. A lawyer’s job is to connect the record of what happened with the legal argument and the process available. For an owner whose investment is on the line, as the Police case shows, that connection can decide whether a brand stays its own.