Recently, legal leaders from around the world gathered in London to discuss the “Power of Partnerships” at the annual UnitedLex Summit. The day’s first panel brought together legal professionals from Richemont, Norton Rose Fullbright, Cordillera IP, and UnitedLex to offer diverse perspectives on the topic of “Strategic Partnerships in IP.” These panelists discussed the business pressures facing IP teams, the challenges in scaling IP operations to meet the increasing problem of counterfeits, how to sell the value of investing in IP protection internally, and expectations for AI in IP.
Here are five key takeaways from that discussion.
1. Strategic partnerships are essential for scale
Counterfeit products drain tremendous amounts of value, particularly from luxury brands. The global scale of what is required to fight back can be daunting. The reality is that it’s impossible to combat counterfeits everywhere, all at once, alone. Organizations need to leverage partners’ regional expertise and knowledge to extend their reach and shift from reactive to proactive enforcement.
According to Emma-Jane Tritton, Head Counsel, Anti-Counterfeiting & Brand Protection at Richemont, the parent company of luxury goods providers such as Cartier, Chloé, and Montblanc, strategic partners can proactively help to develop an enforcement strategy and provide advice on governmental or legislative approaches. “We can’t do everything, everywhere,” she said. “That’s really where I find it very valuable to leverage those kinds of partnerships to get guidance where we might not have boots on the ground ourselves.”
Added by the panel’s moderator, Lisa Ritchie, Director & Fractional IP Counsel at Cordillera IP, “It’s about mapping the environment and pulling the threads together and direction-setting effectively.”
2. Tie IP enforcement to business impact
In-house counsel must consistently demonstrate how IP protection efforts drive commercial success—even though that is often a difficult case to outline clearly. It requires measuring and communicating the business impact of enforcement work to secure leadership buy-in and resources.
That is particularly true because of the level of pressure that IP functions are currently facing, noted Sophie Bodet, Lead IP Adviser at UnitedLex. “There is this need to review the way that IP functions operate, a need to budget, more demand from the business, and a need to build strategy into the business objectives,” she said. “We’ve all seen that, of course, but in the last few years, it’s reached a level we’ve never seen before.”
Working with trusted strategic partners can help broaden the perspective of in-house teams and help provide more of an outward-facing perspective, Bodet said.
3. Build deep, collaborative partner relationships
The biggest pressure on strategic partnerships is a balance between expertise and pricing, according to Jonathan Ball, an IP and Technology Disputes Partner with Norton Rose Fulbright. Deploying partnerships with alternative providers of IP services and technology can help to address those issues.
It also takes a great deal of time and effort to create strong, effective strategic partnerships, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, according to Tritton. “When you’re looking to onboard a great new partner, it’s really important to remember to cultivate and educate them as to your preferred ways of working, your enforcement objectives, brand and marketing strategy, and key products that they might want to focus on,” she said. “You need to take that time to ensure that everybody is on the same page. It’s important not to skip that step and invest that time. That will ensure that you’ve got the lasting strategic and meaningful relationship that you would have hoped for.”
Those types of relationships require open dialogue, where partners feel free to challenge each other. Transparent, two-way communication leads to better alignment on objectives, which leads to better outcomes for both parties, Boden said. “The trust will be there from day one.”
4. Internal advocacy is part of the job
Not everyone in an organization will understand how IP value can translate into business terms, according to Bodet. So IP professionals must actively market their value within their organizations and sell the importance of their objectives to executives and internal PR and marketing. Staying close to senior management and clearly articulating why investments in IP protection are justified and strategically important is key.
“It’s all based on delivering value faster, which these days is absolutely critical,” Bodet said. “With external partners, you can justify that you can act more quickly, but you must also demonstrate the opportunity and the flexibility that those partnerships are bringing in a way that in-house teams alone can’t.”
Tritton pointed to the power of storytelling to convey successes and how they have impacted counterfeiting behavior. “In my personal experience, that can be quite helpful in justifying your spending or the value of your partnerships,” she said.
5. AI enhances but doesn’t replace human judgment
Even as AI will streamline the IP lifecycle and save significant time, it cannot replace sophisticated risk analysis and strategic decision-making. The panelists agreed that humans will still be required to provide expertise and oversight.
At the same time, AI is also no longer a luxury for law firms, according to Ball. It’s a requirement. “Unless you’re able to deploy sophisticated AI within a law firm delivery model, you’re not going to be competitive.”
In upcoming posts, we’ll take a deeper dive into the “AI Advantages for Law Firms,” “Evolving Litigation Leadership,” and more. And don’t hesitate to reach out if you would like more information about how we can serve as your strategic partner for IP and other areas of your legal business.
