Qatar

Like much of the Middle East, intellectual property is not the most important legal practice in Qatar, but hosting the 2022 World Cup and a per capita GDP of more than US$120,000 has given IP relatively more importance here than in some other Middle Eastern countries. Doha is home to a number of important regional legal practices.  

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Sami Younis is executive director of the Doha office of Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP), a regional IP firm with its roots in Kuwait, and its current headquarters in Jordan. Younis is noted for his work as an IP expert in the Qatari courts. The firm has been involved in revising and drafting important IP laws and regulations in at least half a dozen Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates. The firm has offices spread across more than 30 predominantly Muslim jurisdictions, as well as in China, India and Russia, each which has its own significant Muslim minority populations.  

Al Sulaiti Law Firm is led by chairman Mubarak A. Al Sulaiti, who previously led the legal affairs department in Qatar’s Ministry of Transportation. The firm handles most areas of business law, including IP, IT and telecoms, cybercrime, data protection and privacy, and sports, media and entertainment law. The firm’s chair is a member of the Rex Sports Association and a former member of the FIFA Players’ Status Committee. The firm also maintains offices in Istanbul, Kuwait and Cairo, and in Milan and Como, Italy. 

Regional law firm Al Tamimi & Company has an office in Oman, where Mohammed Al Marri is a partner in the litigation practice; he is one of two of the firm’s Qatar-based litigation lawyers who has full rights of audience before the courts of Qatar. Prior to joining private practice, Al Marri worked for the Ministry of the Interior and the Police Academy in Egypt; he has been involved in high-profile litigation matters in relation to banking cases, commercial agencies, trademarks, construction, debt recovery, employment and property. Dubai-based partner Omar Obeidat is the firm’s head of competition and intellectual property, while partner Ahmad Saleh, also based in Dubai, heads the firm’s innovation and patents team. The firm operates 17 offices in 10 countries across the Middle East and North Africa. 

Founded by Qatari lawyers Sultan Al-Abdulla and Jamal Abu Ghaida, AraMarks is based in Doha with a pan-Arab reach; the firm manages IP portfolios for a wide variety of clients, from SMEs to large multinational companies. The firm also works with law firms across the Middle East in rendering IP advice to sporting, branding and marketing stakeholders. The firm works in alliance with leading Qatari full-service law firm Sultan Al-Abdulla & Partners and boasts its own translation house, AraMarks Translation. The firm traces its roots to the work Al-Abdullah and Abu Ghaida did in drafting and implementing the first nationwide IP protection plan while working with the Doha Asian Games Organizing Committee. The firm also has an office in Bahrain. 

Baianet Intellectual Property, formerly known as SMAS-IP, has 19 offices across the Middle East and North Africa, including in Doha, where Saifeldin Hamed is the branch manager. The firm offers a broad suite of intellectual property services. 

Clyde & Co. has a staff of 23 in Doha, including three partners, 10 lawyers and 10 legal professionals. The firm’s IP teams work together effectively globally, particularly on the commercialization of intellectual property through licensing and franchising, royalty agreements, white-labelling, and research and development. It also provides guidance on personality rights and on content creation, distribution and acquisition. In Doha, most IP work flows through the firm’s retail and consumer practice. The firm also has offices in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as well as more than 60 other offices in Asia and the Pacific, Europe, the Americas and Africa. 

CWB, formerly known as Cedar White Bradley, is an IP consultancy providing IP services in 22 different jurisdictions between the Middle East and North Africa, managing and protecting IP rights across industries including oil and gas, media, technology, transportation, entertainment, consumer electronics, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, confectionary, FMCG, property development, luxury fashion and cosmetics. The firm is headquartered in Dubai – and most of its heavy hitters are based there, including Cameron Crawford, who heads the firm’s technology, media and entertainment practice. He is a top lawyer who has advised clients across all areas of media and entertainment; he has extensive experience of working with clients in the global content production and distribution sectors and independent filmmakers and is credited for his work on several motion pictures including Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens and Fast & Furious 7. Theuns van de Merwe, who heads the IP practice, is also based in Dubai, while Claudia Berndt, the firm’s head of MENA patents, is based in Pretoria, South Africa. 

Veteran infrastructure lawyer Andrew Jones is managing partner of the Dentons office in Doha. Samer El Husseini, an associate in the corporate and commercial team, is a key contact for IP matters; he is experienced in advising on cross-border matters across Qatar and the wider Middle East region. He has represented a variety of clients, including large multinationals, government and semi-governmental entities, private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, and banking and financial institutions in a range of industry sectors. 

Intellectual property is handled through the corporate and commercial practice at Essa Al Sulaiti Law Firm. The firm has a deep bench of senior lawyers who have significant arbitral and litigatory experience in jurisdictions including Qatar, the United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Spain and Egypt. Essa Mohammad Al Sulaiti, who founded the firm, handles a broad range of corporate and commercial advisory services with a focus on dispute resolution. He has an interdisciplinary master’s degree in sports law and was heavily involved in handling legal demands of the 2022 World Cup. 

Global firm Eversheds Sutherland’s Doha office handles franchising, licensing and IP/IT as part of its commercial practice, which also handles commercial contracts and agency/distribution agreements. Dani Kabbani, who has more than 25 years of experience, is managing partner; his broad experience makes him a key contact for just about any legal matter in Qatar. Senior associate Cristina Craciun is closely involved in the development of data protection and digital asset regulation in Qatar and works in capital markets, PPP and transactional advisory work as well as digital transformation work. Her clients cover both the private and the public sector and include public authorities, large market cap companies, tech disrupters and market entrants in a variety of industries spanning tech, finance, telecoms, insurance, sports, healthcare, luxury, food and beverages, manufacturing and energy. 

Hamad Alyafei Law Firm is a full-service law firm in Doha. In addition to work in corporate, construction, real estate, maritime and other business law, the firm has active practices in intellectual property, sports law and litigation. The firm’s IP team provides local and foreign clients alike with advice on the protection and exploitation of their intellectual property rights; the sports law team is noted for its work in negotiating contracts for events, facilities and media rights.  

Doha-based JAH & Co. IP has more than 20 years of experience in the Middle East and Africa, advising clients of all sizes, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies on a plethora of IP matters. “Intellectual property is among the most important assets of every enterprise,” says firm CEO Jehad Ali Hasan. “With the globalization of the world economy and commerce, the Middle East and Arab world with its young population and resources contributes significantly towards it.”  

Maramiya (IP) Services provides a full range of IP management and enforcement services throughout the Middle East. Headquartered in Doha, the firm also provides IP services in Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India and China.  

Sami Nusair is country manager at regional firm Saba & Co. Intellectual Property, also known as Saba IP, in Doha. Nusair, who previously ran the firm’s Muscat office, has been appointed as expert in trademark and copyright disputes before the Commercial Court of First Instance and the Appellate Court; before joining Saba IP, he worked for commercial and industrial companies in Qatar and Jordan. The firm, as one of the region’s largest IP-focussed practices, handles the gamut of IP matters. The firm’s offices stretch from the Middle East to Central Asia and throughout much of Africa. 

Sharq Law Firm handles IP matters, as well as matters of communications, media and technology and of commercial and franchise licensing, through its corporate division. The firm was founded in Doha in 2014 by Rashid bin Saad Al Saad. The firm is noted for its embrace of technology in management and research alike. 

Sultan Al-Abdulla & Partners is a full-service law firm with practices focusing on IP, telecommunications and IT, and events and sports. The IP team works closely with the firm’s dispute resolution team in defending IP rights in litigation and contentious proceedings before the courts of Qatar. In addition to sports-related services, the firm has advised cinemas, festivals and theatres on hosting events in Qatar and has liaised with the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage to ensure culture and legal norms are addressed. Ashraf Feshawi and Salman Mahmood are key contacts. 

United Trademark & Patent Services is a top-notch regional law firm which offers the full realm of intellectual property services and domain name services. The firm is led by the well-known Yawar Irfan Khan, Hasan Irfan Khan and Maria Farrukh Irfan Khan. In addition to Doha, the firm has offices in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Lebanon, Jordan and Bahrain, as well as in parts of North Africa and South Asia.