Manel Ben Said

Manel Ben Said is a Senior Associate at Al Tamimi & Company, based in Dubai International Financial Centre, focusing on Trademark Law. She specialises in intellectual property with a strong focus on brand protection, management of global IP portfolios and alternative dispute resolution for domain names.

Manel has been practising in intellectual property since commencing her legal career in France in 2008. Her practice focuses on trademark portfolio management, including advising on best practices for protection, intellectual property rights agreements, large-scale enforcement programmes and domain name disputes.

She joined Al Tamimi after an in-house role as Anti-Counterfeiting Manager at Louis Vuitton Malletier, where she was in charge of enforcement activities for Louis Vuitton and the LVMH Fashion Group for the Middle East and Africa. She specialises in developing and implementing cross-regional enforcement programmes for luxury brands and has strong knowledge of transnational cases, from conducting investigations to cross-border enforcement actions. She delivered multiple trainings to law enforcement authorities across the MENA region and participated in various lobbying activities, and implemented the first online enforcement programme for automatic takedown of infringing accounts and pages in collaboration with social media platforms and a UAE governmental authority.

Before joining Al Tamimi in 2012, she worked with Cedar White and Bradley, gaining experience in the selection, clearance, registration and enforcement of trademarks across several jurisdictions in the Middle East, Iran and Pakistan. She advised a leading US-based consumer electronics and software company on the enforcement of its IP rights in the MENA region, and worked with clients across the FMCG, electronics, automotive, pharmaceuticals, tobacco and oil industries.

Prior to that, she trained with IBM France as a Junior IP Lawyer for two years, working with the team in charge of IBM Corporation’s trademark portfolio, with particular involvement in trademark portfolio management in EMEA countries and UDRP complaints before WIPO against domain names infringing the IBM trademark. She drafted IBM’s first UDRP Complaint against a domain name infringing the IBM brand under WIPO Dispute Resolution.

Her recent experience includes advising a Switzerland-based luxury goods holding company on the registration and maintenance of intellectual property rights in the GCC countries; implementing large-scale enforcement strategies in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain for the French leader in the jewellery industry; advising a German-based writing instruments and watches company on potential infringement risk regarding use of copyrighted work; representing the largest Middle East broadcasting company in a domain name dispute resolution matter; and designing and implementing a special anti-counterfeiting campaign for an Italian luxury fashion house.

She holds an LLM in Trademark and Industrial Designs from CEIPI Strasbourg (2010), an LLM in Intellectual Property and ICT Law from the University of Nice (2009), an LLB in Business Law from the University of Nice (2007) and an Associate Degree in International Trade from Lycée Bristol of Cannes (2005). She speaks Arabic, English, French and Spanish.