Amala Atieh

Amala Atieh is a Senior Counsel in Taylor Wessing’s Dubai office with more than 15 years of experience advising on intellectual property, technology, commercial, media, and litigation matters across the MENA region. She advises on trademarks, copyrights, patents, domain names, plant varieties and trade secrets, and is highly experienced in structuring licensing, franchising, and technology agreements. Amala also frequently supports clients in the localisation of global IP and technology contracts, ensuring alignment with regional regulations. Her bilingual fluency allows her to manage matters end-to-end across Arabic- and English-speaking jurisdictions.

Amala is recognised for her ability to develop practical, business-focused legal frameworks that align with clients’ commercial objectives and operational models. She brings clarity to complex legal issues across digital ecosystems, including e-commerce, software-as-a-service, and content licensing. Her strength lies in bridging legal, technical, and regulatory considerations, particularly in multi-jurisdictional environments. Clients rely on her for strategic advice on adapting international IP, technology, and commercial structures to local law, while anticipating regulatory risks and enforcement challenges. Her work is valued for its balance between technical accuracy and commercial usability.

Amala has advised a wide range of clients, including global software and technology companies, streaming platforms, e-commerce companies, franchisors, global media groups, luxury automotive and fashion brands, FMCG companies, F&B operators, and digital businesses. She regularly supports clients in adapting international IP and technology agreements for use across the MENA region, including franchise, licensing, SaaS, and content distribution frameworks. Her work also extends to advising on emerging legal issues in artificial intelligence, particularly around IP ownership, licensing of AI-generated content, and digital risk allocation. Amala has led on regional platform launches, brand protection programs, and regulatory audits for digital products entering MENA markets. On the contentious side, Amala advises on IP enforcement strategies, including trademark and copyright infringement, anti-counterfeiting actions, opposition and cancellation proceedings, and UDRP domain name recovery disputes. Clients rely on her ability to manage complex legal risks across sectors and jurisdictions, delivering tailored solutions that align with regional enforcement mechanisms and evolving technology regulations.

Amala’s sector expertise includes cloud services, digital media, luxury retail, education, and hospitality. She advises clients on technology deployment, data governance, IP strategy, and digital commercialisation. Her work includes structuring white-label and technology transfer agreements for regional rollout, advising on compliance with consumer and advertising laws, and developing platform terms of use. She supports franchisors and licensors entering the MENA market with full-suite documentation and brand control mechanisms. Amala’s understanding of legal systems across the MENA region enables her to deliver regionally harmonised yet locally compliant legal solutions.

• PT Kaldu Sari Nabati Indonesia, known for its “SIIP” snacks, faced major trademark enforcement challenges across the GCC, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where the brand was widely sold but unregistered. Taylor Wessing led a complex, multi-jurisdictional campaign that secured landmark court rulings establishing bad faith, overturned administrative refusals, enforced unregistered well-known marks, and built a robust regional trademark portfolio—setting key legal precedents and protecting the brand in high-risk markets.
• DHL on trademark prosecution, renewals, risk assessments, and enforcement across the GCC. Notably, we successfully opposed a confusingly similar “DNL” trademark application in the logistics sector, securing its abandonment and prompting the applicant’s full rebrand—demonstrating our ability to deliver swift, commercially focused protection for one of the world’s most recognisable brands in a competitive market.
• Manage ABB’s trademark portfolio across the GCC and wider MENA region, including enforcement, filings, and renewals. In a key Saudi Arabia opposition, we successfully defended ABB’s application for a strategically important mark against a Kuwaiti company’s challenge, securing registration and protecting a valuable innovation-driven brand asset—demonstrating our ability to deliver commercially critical IP outcomes in evolving jurisdictions.
• Austral Asia Line Pte Ltd, a leading Singapore-based shipping and logistics company, in connection with the transfer of its intellectual property portfolio to a newly established entity in Cyprus, Schoeller Holdings Ltd.
• A Chinese leading entity in social media and technology with more than 2 billion users, in connection with trademark prosecution and enforcement across the Middle East and Africa. As one of the world’s most recognisable digital platforms, faces constant brand misuse and imitation in emerging markets. Bytedance appointed our firm to manage sensitive trademark filings and provide strategic advice on opposition actions against conflicting marks in key jurisdictions, including Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and across Africa.

   

• Copyright
• Intellectual property
• Patent

• Aviation
• Computer technology & services
• Consumer goods and services
• Internet
• Media

• Joint Certificate Program on Patent Law and Global Public Health (PatentX), Harvard Law School, 2023
• Master of Laws (LL.M), University of Jordan, 2004
• Bachelor's of Law (LL.B), University of Jordan, 2001

• International Bar Association (IBA), 2022

• Jordan Bar Association, 2009