Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Legal
(TAGLegal)
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.

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.
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.
TAGLegal Chart
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.
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.

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.
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).
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.
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).
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.

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.
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.
How to Deliver the Service?
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
Solution of the Puzzle
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.
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.
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/
Marketing TAGLegal as a law
firm:
Who can rebuild your practice to its current state of growth and netprofitability? how long will it take you?
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
TAGLegal Marketing Tools
What is the best tool to be used in marketing TAGLegal services in light
of the mentioned strengths and weaknesses?
“Whenever you see a successful business,
someone made a courageous decision.”
- Peter Drucker
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
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.
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.

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.
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.
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.
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.

What we have to do to improve the quality
standards?
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.
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.
Improving Taglegal’s Newsletter

How to improve TAGLegal
Newsletter?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
New gTLD Objection

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 toplevel domain or another string applied for in the same round of
applications.
a)
b)
“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.
c)
d)
“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.

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.





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.
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.
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.
THANK YOU ……