Sadegh Shamshiri
Of Counsel, APP Legal Institute — in association with Dentons Europe LLP
Tehran · Dubai
Sadegh leads HENGAM's intellectual property and litigation practice, advising foreign rights holders on protecting and enforcing what they own in Iran.
He advises brand owners and their international counsel on trademarks, patents and industrial designs in Iran, and represents clients in the Iranian courts and before the Intellectual Property Center.
Much of his work begins where the paperwork has already gone wrong: a mark registered by a distributor, a squatter sitting on a portfolio, a Madrid designation refused on grounds that read oddly to European eyes, a local business trading under a name that only looks like a licence. He is known among correspondent firms for giving a direct answer on what an Iranian filing or action will actually achieve, and what it will not.
His interest in technology transfer and licensing dates to his LL.M. at the University of Tehran, where he wrote on the legal architecture of technology transfer in the oil and gas sector — the same ground he returned to as a panellist on IP licensing and technology transfer at IIPLA Dubai in 2025.
Alongside the IP practice he handles commercial litigation and advises Iranian family enterprises on ownership, succession and governance — work that turns on the same question as a brand dispute: who holds the right, and what can be done with it.
Practice
- Trademark clearance, prosecution and portfolio strategy, including Madrid designations and responses to refusal
- Trademark oppositions, invalidation and non-use cancellation proceedings
- Anti-counterfeiting and brand-impersonation enforcement
- Patents and industrial designs — filing, PCT national phase, and validity disputes
- IP licensing, assignment, technology transfer and transactional work
- Commercial litigation before the Iranian courts
- Family business ownership, succession and governance
Market voice
Luxury Brands Struggle to Steer Iranians Away From Knockoffs
Quoted on the obstacles facing global luxury brands entering the Iranian market, and on the position of a brand whose stores are being imitated by an unaffiliated local operator. 23 January 2017.
Speaking
Panellist — IP Licensing and Technology Transfer
27 January 2025. Alongside speakers from Fish & Richardson, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and Page White Farrer.
Selected publications
Protecting your IP rights in Iran
Co-authored with Pirouzan Parvine, partner, Dentons. A practical guide for foreign companies on securing and enforcing IP in a large, consumer-driven market with a high incidence of counterfeiting. Republished by Mondaq.
Trademark protection in Iran
What qualifies as a mark under Iranian law, the position of unregistered marks and trade names, and the well-known mark exception.
Patent protection in Iran
The 2007 Patent, Industrial Design and Trademark Registration Act, Iran's Paris Convention obligations, and PCT practice since accession in 2013.