Bachir A Chakra

During current role:

• Successfully advised on and oversaw negotiations for the exit of a leading manufacturer of lightning and concrete poles from a Saudi based company, reviewed and finalized the share purchase and sale agreement.
• Advised and assisted several foreign entities (United States, United Kingdom and Canadian based) on the establishment of their corporate entities in Saudi Arabia, the protection and enforcement of their intellectual property and on the provision, licensing and distribution of their products and services in the healthcare, legal, tech and cloud computing industries, within the Kingdom.
• Advised a leading food and beverage company on data protection and processing in Saudi Arabia in relation to the collection of personal data for participants in an online contest. The advice was of key importance for the client as it addressed the new Saudi data protection regime and provided a list of best practices to note when it comes to cross border personal data transfers.
• Advised a US-based software testing company on the licensing and distribution of the client's tech testing solutions within Saudi Arabia. Work included reviewing and revising the client's template distribution agreement for compliance with Saudi Arabia's laws and proposing an alternative master licensing model to achieve the same goals.
• Advised a New York-based technology company on the licensing and distribution of the client's video surveillance tech solutions in Saudi Arabia. Work included advising the client on key issues and risks which typically arise from such engagements with local partners in the KSA, Made in Saudi designation requirements, and a review and revision of the client's working templates for such transactions in compliance with Saudi laws.

During previous in-house role:

• Successfully oversaw, managed, and completed former employer's rebranding from Corel to Alludo, having worked closely with the marketing and creative services team on this rebrand and secured registrations through outside counsel for the new brands in major jurisdictions worldwide, including Canada, the U.S., the U.K., the E.U., Japan, China, India and Australia.
• Revamped the template distribution, OEM bundling, VDI as a service, master vendor, non-disclosure, content submission and licensing, audit settlement release and discharge, business and end user license agreements and the social media policy, contest rules, online branding and copyright guidelines and marketing release forms, and worked closely with all relevant stakeholders (including finance, sales and product teams) on the foregoing.
• Collaborated with other legal team members, research and development team members, product engineering team members and marketing team members, on developing and implementing the company's new artificial intelligence policy, new cloud computing (desktop as a service) terms, and compiling the clause bank library, fall back language to rely on for revising key contractual provisions in negotiations, and FAQs for sales teams to use when discussing licensing terms with customers, using best practice standards.
• Drafted and negotiated software distribution agreements, OEM bundling agreements, maintenance and support services, and licensing agreements, with third party partners and customers and worked closely with relevant team members (sales and finance primarily) on closing associated sales deals.
• Reviewed, negotiated and revised third party cloud computing agreements, service agreements, service level agreements, data processing agreements, and IT outsourcing agreements, with external vendors and worked closely with relevant team members (R&D, product engineering and security primarily) on closing associated procurement deals.

During previous private practice roles:

• Successfully drafted, negotiated and closed a multi-million US dollar technology transfer agreement for a leading regional industrial projects company in Kuwait and a multi-million US dollar advertising campaign and documentary production deal for a government entity in the UAE with a global news network.
• Advising the Al Ghurair Group on the trademark filing strategy to pursue in the UAE, wider GCC and under the Madrid Protocol for the registration of the Group's brands in key jurisdictions across the globe.
• Managing global IP portfolios for various clients in the advertising, music, TV, FMCG, fashion and real estate industries. Advised on IP protection, product registration, clearances and on labelling requirements and pharmaceutical regulations in Saudi Arabia & the UAE.
• Developed a Singaporean-based IT service provider's precedent IP assignment and intergroup licensing agreements in the context of its acquisition and counter-licensing of IP assets from another Singapore-based entity.
• Successfully represented a global toys and games company on the enforcement of its brand rights to curb the sale of knock-off and counterfeit board games and on the management of its trademark registration renewals and assignments in Saudi Arabia.