CWB emerged as an unrivalled super-regional firm in 2023 following the merger of leading regional IP specialists Cedar White Bradley, PETOŠEVIĆ Group and Hahn & Hahn. With 29 offices, 170 practitioners, and 300 employees, CWB now manages the portfolios of some of the world’s leading IP owners across 100+ jurisdictions in Africa, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.
Through our extensive network of offices and affiliated partners, we deliver centrally managed IP solutions supported by dedicated, cross-jurisdictional, client-specific teams. By combining advanced IP practices with deep local expertise, we ensure consistent, high-quality service across a vast and often challenging geographical region.
CWB offers a full spectrum of IP services covering virtually all IP rights, along with brand management and enforcement. Our teams safeguard thousands of IP rights for market-leading clients across a wide range of industries. We also provide specialized Media & Entertainment expertise, guiding clients through complex regulatory landscapes in areas such as film production, content streaming, crypto, advertising, data protection, social media, software licensing, and music usage.
CWB is thinking beyond the technology available today to transform the IP services industry. We are implementing the most innovative technologies and leveraging automation and AI to enhance the client and employee experience and to achieve industry-leading efficiencies.
CWB offers a full suite of IP and related services through its offices and affiliated offices in the following countries:
AFRICA: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
CENTRAL ASIA: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
EASTERN EUROPE: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo (UNSCR 1244), Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Ukraine
MIDDLE EAST: Bahrain, Gaza Strip, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kurdistan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, West Bank, Yemen.
Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov & Velichkov (DGKV) is one of the largest and most experienced business law firms in Bulgaria, highly ranked by both clients and partners. Founded in 1994 by the four name partners, the firm currently employs 60 lawyers, including 17 partners, and maintains offices in Sofia and Berlin. The firm provides a full range of business-related legal services to international and domestic corporate clients. As one of the leaders on the Bulgarian legal market, DGKV has a well-established IP practice.
We represent and provide consultation and advice on all aspects of intellectual property including registration, preservation, and enforcement of patents, trademarks, designs, geographical indications, copyright, plant variety rights and trade secrets, execution of licensing, transfer of technology and know-how contracts. Our law firm conducts intellectual property and information technology due diligence and audit, provides trademark, design and patent maintenance services, advises on portfolio structuring, conducts pre-registration searches, and represents clients in complex cases involving infringement of intellectual property rights.
The Practice Group is staffed with certified patent and trademark attorneys and fully qualified lawyers, in representing clients before the courts of all instances, the customs authorities, the Bulgarian Patent Office and other competent local authorities, the Competition Protection Commission, WIPO and EUIPO.
We have excellent understanding of the Trademark and IP issues faced by industries from food and beverages production and distribution to automotive, energy, pharma, telecommunications, tobacco, entertainment, software development, cosmetics, chemicals, technology, accommodation, retail.
Currently, DGKV’s IP team manages more than 6 100 national, international and EU trademarks for clients from various industries.
DGKV’s lawyers are recognized leaders in the field of IP law, providing unparalleled guidance to both start-ups. The lawyers of the team have excellent understanding of the Trademark and IP issues faced by industries from food and beverages production and distribution to automotive, energy, pharma, telecommunications, tobacco, entertainment, software development, cosmetics, chemicals, technology, and accommodation.
DGKV’s IP practice has grown significantly over the past several years. We have attracted a myriad of new international and domestic clients and have had great feedback from both clients and partners. Our work is valued for our expertise, extensive knowledge, efficiency, and honesty.
The head of the practice Ms. Kalina Tchakarova, who is the Partner, heading the IP and Pharma Regulatory practice groups at DGKV.
The team consists of 6 fully qualified attorneys.
The PM&P team has a long track record of creating winning strategies to protect and manage Intellectual property rights. The respect of Intellectual property rights allows businesses to grow more efficiently, to build their own identity and take leading market positions. Our services cover the full range of Intellectual property works such as trademarks and designs, geographical indications, patents for inventions, utility models, copyright and related rights, protection of know-how, trade secrets, domains. PM&P provides representation before the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Established in 1993, patent bureau “K TAHTADJIEV” is one of the leading Industrial Property (IP) offices in Bulgaria, practicing Industrial property for over 35 years. Possessing qualifications such as EQE qualified European patent attorney and European Trademark Attorney, our expertise and practice spreads around Europe and globally as well. We have gained considerable experience over time teaming up and networking with globally acclaimed IP law firms and foreign multinational companies from the industry.
The bureau’s emphasis is on preparation, filing and prosecution of Bulgarian patent applications, European patent applications, European Patent Validations, European Patent Validation in Bulgaria, PCT applications, PCT national phase in Bulgaria, EURO-PCT regional phases, utility model registrations, trademark registrations and industrial design registrations, as well as the maintenance and defense of the obtained industrial property rights for Bulgarian and foreign clients.
We are trained to offer patent prosecution advice in all traditional technical fields as well as in those of the most recent technologies from mechanics to electronics and telecommunications, from chemistry and pharmaceutics to biotechnology, from the topography of semiconductors to the patent protection of software.
We aim at attaching great importance to repeatedly analyzing and optimizing strategies in industrial property (IP) rights concerning the relationship between costs and benefits for our clients in particular. Our philosophy is that in the protection of industrial property rights, the technical qualification and concrete argumentation count above all else.
Our identification with the requirements of our clients reveals itself in detail, showing our technical competence and individual approach. We strongly believe that in the present dramatically increasing innovation trends, the “out-of-the-box” thinking in protecting IP should be high on our agenda.
In 2023, CWB Group, PETOŠEVIĆ Group, and Hahn & Hahn merged to create CWB, a multi-regional IP firm. CWB now operates as a single entity, managing the intellectual property portfolios of leading clients across the Middle East, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. This merger resulted in a super-regional firm with extensive coverage across these regions.
Notable practitioners: Dimitar Batakliev, Atanas Grigorov, Kliment Markov.
Partner Dimitar Batakliev oversees the team.
Djingov Gouginski Kyutchukov & Velichkov (DGKV) is a reputed IP firm providing consultation and advice on all aspects of intellectual property, including registration, preservation, and enforcement of patents, trademarks, designs, geographical indications, copyright, plant variety rights and trade secrets, execution of licensing, transfer of technology and know-how contracts.
Notable practitioners: Kalina Tchakarova, Anton Krustev.
Kalina Tchakarova oversees the IP and Pharma Regulatory practice groups.
The firm led by Konstantin Tahtadjiev, known as K Tahtadjiev, is a prominent Bulgarian and European patent agency established in 1993.The firm specializes in the preparation, filing, and prosecution of Bulgarian and European patent applications, utility model registrations, trademark registrations, and industrial design registrations.
Notable practitioners: Konstantin Tahtadjiev
ZMP is a full-service IP intellectual property law firm, established in 1939 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Serbia, operated in Bulgaria since 2006 as a general practice law firm. It has grown progressively and consists of 15 offices in 14 European countries. The firm’s overall protection of IP services and all IP rights encompass prosecution, enforcement and litigation. The network of ZMP’s offices covers the Balkan Peninsula and Central and Eastern Europe, with a liaison office in Alicante, Spain. ZMP is particularly active in matters of counterfeiting and piracy matters.
Notable trademark practitioners: Tsvetomira Vasileva