A B M Hamidul Mishbah

Mishbah is a corporate lawyer practicing at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, and is the Managing Partner of Old Bailey Chambers, Dhaka. He obtained LL. B (Hons) and Post Graduate Degree in Law from the United Kingdom, and was called to the Bar of England and Wales from the Lincoln’s Inn in March 2005. Mishbah later on pursued an LL.M Degree in Competition Law at the Kings College, London.

Mishbah specializes in the areas of Intellectual Property, Emerging Technology, IT and Telecommunication, Competition (Antitrust), Data Protection, Media & Entertainment and Defamation, International Commercial Law and Constitutional Law matters. Mishbah served the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as a National Consultant for Bangladesh’s accession to the Madrid Treaty for Trademarks, and had previously served as an IPR Consultant for the Access to Information Program under the Prime Minister’s Office, Bangladesh.

Mishbah’s notable engagements in the recent years include spearheading the enactment of the Customs IPR (Export & Import) Rules, 2019 in Bangladesh, advising Japan Tobacco International (JTI) in a USD 1.5 billion-dollar acquisition in 2018 (the largest acquisition in Bangladesh till date), advising VEON Telecom for acquiring the largest video-on-demand and streaming platform company in Bangladesh, assisting leading pharmaceutical companies, i.e. Pfizer Inc., and Gilead Sciences, to enforce their Intellectual Property Rights (Patent and Trademark) in life saving drugs during 2016-2020, and acting for CASIO Japan and NESTLE Bangladesh Limited for enforcing their Trademark rights at the border through restraining imports of CASIO and NESTLE products by parallel importers in complex litigations in 2019.

In 2015 Mishbah assisted Microsoft Bangladesh Limited to enforce its copyright and successfully claimed damages for infringement of Microsoft’s copyright in software, represented SAMSUNG Electronics Limited in a ground-breaking litigation to prohibit parallel imports, sell and distribution of unauthorized SAMSUNG branded goods into Bangladesh, and offered advisory services in a large merger & acquisition transaction by rendering advise on the competition law impact in the e-commerce market resulting from the merger of two leading e-commerce companies in Bangladesh.

Mishbah assisted the music fraternity of Bangladesh to establish the first ever Collective Management Organization (CMO) in Bangladesh in 2014, and played key role, as a Member to the Drafting Committee for the Copyright Amendment Act, for introduction of a robust Copyright Law in Bangladesh.

In his legal career spanned over 16 years, Mishbah has played a pivotal role, and was engaged in various capacities for shaping and framing various legislations and policies which includes drafting of the National ICT Policy 2009, Licensing Guidelines for Vehicle Tracking Services, reviewing the draft Geographical Indication Act, 2013, draft Broadcasting Policy 2014, draft Digital Security Act, 2018, and the draft Digital Commerce Policy, 2018.

He currently serves as a Member to the Committee for Emerging Issues of International Trademarks Association (INTA) for the term 2020-2021, and to the Copyright Taskforce of Bangladesh functioning under Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

In 2011 Mishbah founded Bangladesh Intellectual Property Forum (www.bcipf.org). He runs a legal aid centre called “IP Plus Law Clinic” and in 2018 initiated and founded LexOration.