EXPERIENCE
Margarita has more than 20 years of experience, beginning in 1994, when she was an intern at the First Collegiate Circuit Court in Civil Matters. Later, while continuing her university studies, she worked in several law firms specialized in litigation and corporate law. In 1998 she joined Bufete Gastelum as a junior lawyer, first as part of the civil litigation team, and later as part of the corporate team, participating in important cases regarding the restructuring and/or sale of companies. At the end of 2001, she joined the intellectual property department of Von Wobeser y Sierra, where she worked for 14 years; from 2007 to 2010 she coordinated the intellectual property practice of Von Wobeser y Sierra, and from 2011 to 2015, she acted as of counsel in order to focus on complex litigation cases related to unfair competition, intellectual property and advertising, and implementation of the firm’s privacy and personal data protection area. From mid-2016 to April 2019, Margarita practiced independently, advising small companies and individuals in her areas of specialization; she dedicated a significant part of her time to pro bono work by helping young entrepreneurs protect their intellectual property rights related to their new projects.
In June 2019, she co-founded LITREDI in order to continue with her practice as a litigating attorney. Working now for a boutique firm, through her specialized activities and initiatives, she seeks to improve everyone’s access to justice.
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
Preventive Litigation and Due Diligence. She has participated in important legal audit processes; first in the sale of a real estate company with concession rights at the international airport in Mexico City to a foreign investment fund, and later in the revision process in the merger between one of the most important Mexican insurers and one of the largest American insurance companies.
Sui Generis Arbitration. She served as an assistant to the Arbitral Tribunal that was created to process one of the few arbitrations managed to date under the provisions of the Mexican Federal Copyright Law (Chapter III of Title XI), in a dispute between two collective management companies.
Investment Arbitration. She participated as an assistant to one of the arbitrators in an investment arbitration case against Argentina, under the rules of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
Commercial Arbitration. She was part of the team of lawyers that represented a well-known brewer in an arbitration proceeding before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), making innovative arguments in the matter of unfair competition. As mentioned in the prestigious publication Global Arbitration Review (GAR), the award obtained was favorable, and, even, it also laid the groundwork for preventing the product imitation in several other countries.
Administrative Litigation. (i) She advised one of the world’s largest consumer products company in a dispute concerning the design trademark of a hygienic product, achieving several positive resolutions, and subsequently a successful settlement. (ii) She designed a successful defense strategy for a fast-food franchise in a multi-million dollar claim arising from alleged copyright infringement. (iii) For several years she was the key lawyer in the defense and protection of a major consumer goods company in what was known, within the legal arena, as “the potato chip war” (“la guerra de las papas”). Her involvement included not only a complex protection strategy, but also her participation in several proceedings, with positive results. (iv) She was also the lead attorney in the strategy to protect an iconic bottle of a certain tequila manufacturer (a three-dimensional trademark); this strategy included processing several administrative nullification and infringement proceedings before the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (as well as their corresponding challenging procedures) against many products that intended to copy that bottle, thus avoiding trademark dilution. (v) She successfully advised a well-known consumer goods company in a series of claims concerning several TV commercial ads that used deceptive comparative advertising between two shampoo brands, obtaining resolutions condemning the unfair competitor and prohibiting it from continuing with that type of advertising.
Civil Litigation. She was the main counsel in a civil litigation suit in which damages and lost profits were claimed due to violation of the trade dress of a well-known hair product, obtaining a favorable decision from the Civil Courts in Mexico City.
Privacy and Data Protection. Similarly, even though it is not related to litigation, from 2010 to 2015, Margarita supported about 50 private parties (individuals and companies) in the enforcement of the then-new Federal Law on Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties. This support included an intense effort to raise awareness on the issue of privacy and protection of personal data.
TRAINING
AND
STUDIES
Margarita completed her professional studies at Escuela Libre de Derecho (1993-1998), obtaining her law degree with the thesis "Professional Responsibility of the Physician, Applicable Legal Framework and Proposals for Better Treatment.” She also completed postgraduate studies at Universidad Panamericana (Industrial and Intellectual Property Law, in 2002), at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (Information and Communications Technology Law, in 2011) and at the Regional Center for Book Development in Latin America and the Caribbean/CERLALC (Copyright and Related Rights, in 2013). She has also participated in various continuing education courses: Private International Law at the Hague Academy of International Law; Arbitration and Mediation Procedures and E-commerce and Intellectual Property at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
RECOGNITIONS
Chambers & Partners Latin America, World Trademark Review, Legal 500, Who’s Who Legal: Latin America. *Margarita was frequently ranked between 2010 to 2015, during which time her professional practice focused on complex litigation cases.
PUBLICATIONS
“Treatment Given to Damages and Lost Profits” [“El Tratamiento a los Daños y Perjuicios”] by Margarita Garate Turanzas, et al. A Proposal of Legal Reforms and Interpretation of Existing Standards. Volume I, Collection Foro de la Barra Mexicana (2002).
Open or Closed Litis in Intellectual Property Disputes [“¿Litis abierta o litis cerrada en temas de Propiedad Intelectual?”] by Margarita Garate Turanzas, et al. Commemorative Work for the 75th Anniversary of the Enactment of the Tax Justice Law, Volume IV. Derecho de la Propiedad Intelectual y Derecho Ambiental (2011).
Trade Secrets & Proprietary Information for Lawyer Monthly (November 2011).
In addition, from 2011 to 2015, while Margarita coordinated and subsequently chaired the Working Committee on Interdisciplinary Affairs of the Mexican Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property, she was responsible for editing the AMPPI Electronic Bulletin.