Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Legal (TAGLegal)

1. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Legal (TAGLegal)

2. Overview • Founded in 1998, Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Legal (TAGLegal) is an international business law firm with an international network of lawyers and professionals and many offices in the Middle East. TAGLegal expands its services by rendering a comprehensive set of legal services to businesses and individuals throughout the Arab World. • Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Legal offers the business community a new concept of legal services by benefiting from the unlimited resources and qualifications available; in addition to following solid ethical standards and deep commitment to excellence.

3. Our confident team of attorneys works hard to contribute to the future development of the region. We have a team of highly experienced advocates and business professionals who are able to draw upon an international network of contacts to provide the most efficient methods and solutions to deal with any legal problem or business opportunity.

4. Geographical Coverage • Since 1998, the year TAGLegal was launched, TAGLegal expanded, gained more employees, more experience, locations and clients.   • The geographical coverage in the middle east became a solid background to provide the international clients with the required legal services across borders. Our coverage until December is as follows:Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.

5. TAGLegal Chart

6. TAGLegal Keys of Success • Quality Control Department exists and available all the time. • Selected hard working and focused in-house lawyers in each office we operate. • Providing new legal services in emerging markets. • Building cooperation with international organizations and local governmental bodies in the region such as the World Bank and Ministries of Commerce and Industry. • Building close ties with current clients and convincing potential clients to work with by using the reputation and trust of our brand name under (TAGOrg). • Developing TAGLegal employees’ experience and skills.

7. Strengths • Talal Abu-Ghazaleh’s name, which is recognized in many countries, adds credibility to our services. • Good communication between all TAGLegal in-house lawyers and the QCL which guarantees an open discussion regarding all related matters. • In some jurisdictions, we are a low budget firm. • The international reputation of AGIP in the IP field.

8. Familiarity with operations, culture and procedures of all countries in the region, especially where we have operating offices. • Huge potential market of establishing companies worldwide. • The ability to provide new legal services in many jurisdictions. • Strong relations with biggest local clients in many countries. • The existence of AGIP offices in many countries where we provide our services.

9. Weaknesses • Lack of focus on branding TAGLegal as a legal services provider. • Lack of specialized marketing team. • Lack of sufficient administrative staff. • Critical cases with very short time needs an urgent reply from TAGLegal Agents, but having to wait for certain sections i.e. (Pricing, Collection, local associate).

10. Opportunities • Huge potential market in the region especially for foreign investors. • Governments aim for legislative reform in IP laws. • Targeting new companies that are entering the Arab region. • Strengthening our relations with governmental entities and NGOs.

11. Challenges • Political instability may have a negative effect on the foreign investors’ choices regarding investing in the local market. • The volume of work. • The increase of expenses. • Competitors (Registered local Law firms).

12. TAGLegal Services Legal services covered by TAGLegal Umbrella: • Drafting and reviewing all types of contracts and agreements with no exception. • All types of legal and judicial actions /procedures before courts and all related services. • Incorporation of companies, amending contracts/articles of associations, merger and acquisition, legal due diligence. • Oppositions, counter oppositions and complaints in KSA, UAE, Egypt and CDO.

13. Complaints before Customs Department and all border measures. • Cancellation actions before judicial authorities such as courts, committees and boards excluding cancellation actions before TMOs. • Appeals against TM rejection. • Any kind of related legal services outside the TMO, such as market investigation regarding counterfeit TMs (forged and imitation) • Negotiations with clients and opponents (acting as a mediator) • All kinds of legal actions related to civil law, commercial law, labor law, customs law, insurance and reinsurance, tax legislations, banking law, administrative law, lading, financial claims, uncovered checks, electronic defamation, unfair competition and E-transactions …. etc.

14. Services out of our Specialty • Personal law issues, such as marriage, divorce ….. etc. • limitation of succession. • Serious crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping, stealing, drugs, crimes against country security, political crimes, terrorism……. etc.

15. How to Deliver the Service?

16. Thinking Outside the Box The "nine dots" puzzle. The goal of the puzzle is to link all 9 dots using four straight lines or fewer, without lifting the pen and without crossing the same line more than once. en.wikipedia.org

17. Solution of the Puzzle

18. Think outside the box • Here is a very simple example of what I am talking about: How to defend our client’s trademark rights against an international company with a massive litigation budget. 

19. This is exactly the way we will win or lose the case if we thought inside the box: 1.  Can we defend on the grounds the non-similar trademarks? No. 2.  Can we defend on the grounds the trademarks used on different goods and/or services? No. 3.  Do we have a prior use of the TM in a certain jurisdiction? No. So, we will have zero chance to overcome this dispute.

20. However, in thinking outside the box, we can start looking at how did the opponent acquire their trademark rights, the ones they are now asserting, against us? We could if we found another company using the same trademark before the opponent did that would be willing to sell it to our client for a reasonable price. Teach yourself to look at problems more expansively. Never dismiss a potential solution before you study it. Always think outside the box. http://www.inc.com/

21. Marketing TAGLegal as a law firm: Who can rebuild your practice to its current state of growth and net-profitability? how long will it take you?

22. How to Get the First Client? Here are some suggestions to improve the internal environment of our offices: • Creating contacts database. • Legal etiquette. • Become a trusted adviser. • Create a process. • Set expectations. • Maintain high standards. www.forbes.com

23. TAGLegal Marketing Tools What is the best tool to be used in marketing TAGLegal services in light of the mentioned strengths and weaknesses?

24. “Whenever you see a successful business, someone made a courageous decision.” - Peter Drucker

25. High Quality Legal Services • The business of law isn’t what it used to be. The economic climate has changed. The billable hour practice is dying. Clients want value, and lawyers face increasing competition from customary rivals. • According to ABA Report of the Task Force on the Future of the Legal Profession, there is strong evidence that changes in practice are producing a restructuring in the way legal services are delivered. These changes include widespread access to legal information, the routinization of many legal tasks, demands by clients for more control of legal service delivery, and the emergence of an increasingly competitive marketplace. This restructuring in the way legal services are delivered affects all law firms—regardless of size, geographic location, and substantive practice area—although it may impact different firms in different ways. • Clients are seeking more efficient services, predictable fees, and increased responsiveness to their needs, and they are willing to replace their lawyers if they are not satisfied with the services they receive. www.thelawfirmrevolution.com

26. Quality Control Legal Dep. • Quality Control Dep. is one of TAGLegal General Administration’s departments which launched officially on 4 December 2007. The main aim of the QC Department is to enhance and improve the quality of our submitted legal services.

27. Our Goals • Reaching the highest level of quality and professionalism. • “Zero defects” • Recognizing clients’ needs and surpassing their specifications and expectations in order to gain their trust.

28. All TAGLegal’s correspondences, inquiries, offers, court pleadings, official letters, documents and drafted agreements should be in compliance with the professional standards. • Supporting TAGLegal’s team in order to achieve the required level of quality.

29. Our Principles Principle 1 - Customer-Focused Organization: we will depend on our customers in order to understand their current and future needs, meet their requirements, and strive to exceed their expectations. Principle 2 - Involvement of People. People at all levels are the essence of an organization and their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organization's benefit. Principle 3 - Process Approach. A desired result is achieved more efficiently when related resources and activities are managed as a process. Principle 4 - Continual Improvement. Continual improvement is a permanent objective of our organization.

30. Actions We are performing the QC tasks through the following stages: • Quality control by supervising the service after providing it(correspondence, reporting system and instructions). • Controlling the emails. • Quality assurance by taking measures to enhance the quality of the service and the legal environment before providing the service. • Quality improvement. • Client care.

31. In order to perform our goals in a professional way, we need the following: 1- Evaluation System: • We already have an evaluation system within the WIPS. • Monitoring the quality of all correspondences including offers and procedures. • Monitoring the effectiveness and performance of clients’ instructions. • Monitoring the developments in the provided services. 2- Reports: • Timesheet report (monthly). • Received complaints report. (external complaints and internal complaints) • Legal cases outcomes’ report. • Pending legal cases reports and proposal cases reports. • Offices performance reports.

32. What we have to do to improve the quality standards?

33. Conflict of Interest Policy • What is the meaning of conflict of interest? In the legal profession, the duty of loyalty owed to a client prohibits any attorney (or a law firm) from representing any other party with interests against those of a current client. The few exceptions to this rule require informed written consent from all affected clients.

34. Newsletter • We issue TAGLegal Newsletter since 2008 in English on a monthly basis, the total No. of issues until now is around 60. • We started issuing it in Arabic language quarterly since 2012.

35. Improving Taglegal’s Newsletter • How to improve TAGLegal Newsletter?

36. Our Suggestions • Legal articles shall be provided by TAGLegal Staff on a monthly basis whether in Arabic or in English. • In addition, we supposed to add some articles about the cases we win every month after obtaining clients written approvals especially cancellation actions and infringement lawsuits.

37. TAGLegal KSA TAGLegal KSA is our success story in 2013.   TAGLegal KSA team: • Ahmad Al-Kassem: TAGLegal KSA manager who is a qualified and professional attorney. He leads TAGLegal KSA to success within less than a year. • Mohammad Asaker: a professional Saudi attorney who assists in all legal matters and visiting official entities and doing his best to serve the clients. • Mohammad Shameem: Admin assistant. You can say that he is the internal engine of the office. • Badr Al-Saqer: TAGLegal external engine. He can handle all official procedures without any delay. • Mosab Al-Asal: a Senior accountant. • Abdel-Shakor Kali: a new admin assistant.

38. The Reasons of Success • Wide range of legal services. We are not depending on IPRs services only. • Competitive charges. • Full cooperation with TAGLegal Administration. • Great local market with great opportunities. • Close follow up of all files (old, new and pending files) • High level of legal experience. • Specialized staff. • Cooperation with AGIP.

39. The Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP services): • Adding this type of specialty to our list of services is really a success story. We can provide this service through TAGLegal Egypt and Ms. Nancy from A – Z.

40. Brief on UDRP Services • Domain names are classified into generic top level domains (gTLDs) and country code top level domain names (ccTLDs). The procedures that can be brought against gTLDs are set by the ICANN organization as these domains are administered directly by the ICANN whilst the ccTLDs are subject to the local regulations of each country. • These proceedings concerning the resolution of domain name disputes against trademark infringement. The most famous and well-organized center is the WIPO’s.

41. ACDR Center • After receiving ICANN’s accreditation, we launched (The Arab Center of Domain Name Dispute Resolution – ACDR) on January 2014 under the management of Ms. Lalla Khan and supervision of Mr. Mahmoud Lattouf and Mr. Charles Shaban. This center is specialized in handling complaints regarding domain names disputes through arbitration procedures. • The ICANN, set out the policy for filing a complaint before the accredited center, and each center (service provider) stated their supplementary rules in accordance with the UDRP Policy.

42. Types of Disputes • According to the UDRP, the UDRP Administrative Procedure is only available for disputes concerning an alleged abusive registration of a domain name; and shall meet the following criteria: (i) the domain name registered by the domain name registrant is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant (the person or entity bringing the complaint) has rights; and (ii) the domain name registrant has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name in question; and (iii) the domain name is registered and is being used in bad faith (the Rules mentioned examples of such circumstances to prove the bad faith).

43. Cases • TAGLegal started to represent clients in UDRP from 2012, the first case was Dostor.org against doctor.net • The case was handled by TAGLegal Egypt, by Ms. Jihan Al Ansary under the supervision of Mr. Badr Abdel Khalek, TAGLegal Egypt Manager). • We obtained a favorable decision by transferring automatically the infringed domain name to our client’s domain name. • Our charges for handling the UDRP complaint are as follows: 3000$ PER DOMAIN NAME. • The center decides either to transfer the domain name or to cancel it, based on the complainant demands in the complaint.

44. New gTLDs Objection Proceedings New gTLDs program was introduced by the ICANN to promote competition and enhance consumer goals. The ICANN has been working on new gTLD guidebook since 1998 whilst the application window was opened in January 12th, 2012. The objection period against the first round was closed in March 13th, 2013.

45. New gTLDObjection • The guidebook published by the ICANN has set the four exclusive grounds upon which an objection could be filed, and the exclusive service providers (centers) authorized by the ICANN to administer objections depending on the ground of objection. • The only grounds of objection are: • “String Confusion Objection” refers to the objection that the string comprising the potential gTLD is confusingly similar to an existing top-level domain or another string applied for in the same round of applications. • “Existing Legal Rights Objection” refers to the objection that the string comprising the potential new gTLD infringes the existing legal rights of others recognized or enforceable under generally accepted and internationally recognized principles of law.

46. “Limited Public Interest Objection” refers to the objection where the string comprising the potential new gTLD is contrary to generally accepted legal norms relating to morality and public order recognized under principles of international law.“Community Objection” refers to the objection that there is substantial opposition to the application from a significant portion of the community to which the string may be explicitly or implicitly targeted. • “Community Objection” refers to the objection where there is substantial opposition to the application from a significant portion of the community to which the string may be explicitly or implicitly targeted.

47. The following are the dispute resolution service providers (DRSP) that administer the proceedings : (a) String Confusion Objections shall be administered by the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. (b) Existing Legal Rights Objections shall be administered by the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property Organization. (c) Limited Public Interest Objections shall be administered by the International Centre for Expertise of the International Chamber of Commerce. (d) Community Objections shall be administered by the International Centre for Expertise of the International Chamber of Commerce.

48. TAGLegal Egypt, based on their previous expertise in the domain names, Telecommunication Regulatory Authority in United Arab Emirates, authorized our company to represent them in the objections filed against 4 strings which are (.GCC, .Islam, .Halal, .PersianGulf) • .GCC, string was filed based on the Legal Rights’ objection before the WIPO, after the filing, the ICANN organized a round in Africa during which the ICANN decided to refuse the registration of the String .GCC • .ISLAM, .HALAL, .PERSIANGULF objections were filed based on the Community objection before the ICC. • The above objections were dismissed, based on the fact that the Expert’s opinion that TRA cannot represent all the Islamic Community. • Even though the last three objections were dismissed, I do believe that our Experience as one of the first leading law firms on working in this field in the Middle East, enable clients to entrust us to file their objections in case of further New GTLDS.

49. Market investigation The market investigation service is an important action to be taken on behalf of our clients. It can be our gate for new clients as well since not all law firms can handle it internationally. In addition, due to the existence of AGIP and TAGLegal Offices in many countries, we can provide this service with no high cost.

50. Expanding our existence To expand our existence, we recommend: • Establishing a new office in Afghanistan especially that we have a valid registration of TAGLegal in this country. • Establishing a new office in Morocco which supposed to serve us in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.