Asia IP: If you could only be INTA president or head of trademarks, domain names and copyright at Novartis Pharma, which would you choose and why?

David Lossignol: I consider myself very fortunate to both lead the trademark team at Novartis Pharma and volunteer through INTA. It goes without saying that serving as INTA president is both a privilege and a responsibility. As a brand professional, participating in INTA is an incredible opportunity to volunteer and give back because you get to use and build upon your professional skills and knowledge. Of course, all volunteer work is meaningful, but the contributions I make through INTA to the global trademark community enrich my work at Novartis and vice versa.

Working as an in-house practitioner is a prerequisite for serving as an officer at INTA. You can’t serve in one role without serving in the other so, luckily, this is not a choice I would ever have to make!

AIP: What new things are you bringing to INTA, and what existing issues are you improving?

Lossignol: Let me highlight two important initiatives. First, this year I launched a presidential task force titled “Brands for a Better Society.” Its goal is to show how brands help society at large by focusing on what brands are bringing to communities and by moving beyond the false message that trademarks merely protect corporate interests.

The task force is looking into issues such as diversity and inclusion, indigenous rights, equality, labour standards, and other social and environmental issues that constitute corporate social responsibility.

We want to remind people how trademarks help communicate quality and support corporate social responsibility efforts, for instance. We must illustrate this and continually promote the positive efforts of the brand community. We also want to showcase all the ways that corporate social responsibility is impacting brands and brand value, and how, when companies embrace new ways of doing business by stepping up and making changes for better social and environmental practices, they also increase brand value and customer loyalty.

We are also examining how counterfeiting and other IP violations frustrate a brand’s efforts to improve its own environmental and social impact.

Second, I’m also proud to be part of INTA’s Unreal Challenge, which I announced during the opening ceremony of the association’s 2019 Annual Meeting earlier this year. The Unreal Challenge will bolster the work of the Unreal Campaign – a committee-led consumer awareness initiative that educates young consumers, ages 14-23, on the importance of trademarks and brands and the dangers of counterfeit goods. In 2018 alone, the Unreal Campaign delivered 57 presentations to 5,900 students at high schools in 39 cities across 18 countries. Since its inception, it has reached nearly 40,000 students directly and engaged hundreds of thousands more online via social media.

Through the Unreal Challenge, we’re calling on the entire INTA membership to volunteer and deliver Unreal Campaign student presentations in their local communities. The Challenge has gotten off to a great start. Imagine the reach and the impact we could have if everyone in our community of 35,000+ brand professionals signed up!

Ideally, this type of educational programme should be institutionalized into every school/university in every corner of the world.

Both these initiatives will also serve our community well in addressing two interconnected issues that are priorities for INTA right now: anti-IP sentiment and brand restrictions. 

AIP: How significant is anti-IP sentiment?

Lossignol: Anti-IP sentiment is growing, and, even though it’s something that is usually aimed more at patents and copyright than trademarks, it contaminates trademarks and brands. Effective, targeted messaging that reaches the right audiences is necessary to counter anti-IP sentiment and present IP as a source of innovation and job creation.

And, if you’re anti-IP, you don’t hesitate to restrict IP. Tobacco is the main target of brand restriction legislation in an increasing number of jurisdictions, but it’s no longer limited to that sector. Now, brand restrictions touch pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, and almost any product that can be perceived as somehow unhealthy. As we tackle this issue we need to ensure that we’re efficient in our approach to educating the public and policymakers about the positive aspects of brands and the potential implications of these restrictions including, for example, how restricting or eliminating trademarks and logos on packaging can actually increase the dangers to consumers because of a greater threat of counterfeit goods and services. As brand restrictions also result in products looking visually more similar to one another, it creates an undue presumption of equivalence between the products. This disincentivizes innovation and the desire to improve product quality.

AIP: What are the latest global trends and issues in trademark registration or enforcement?

Lossignol: On the global front, IP offices, through the TM5, continue to coordinate on a number of issues that have been front and centre for trademark owners. The TM5 is a partnership framework for five IP offices – China National Intellectual Property Administration, European Union Intellectual Property Office, Japan Patent Office, Korean Intellectual Property Office and

United States Patent and Trademark Office. Together they focus on collaboration and harmonization projects that benefit the offices and users of their trademark systems.

Ongoing TM5 projects include combatting bad faith filings, anticounterfeiting efforts, and trying to address and eliminate misleading and fraudulent solicitations to trademark filers and registrants. INTA has been working closely with the TM5 through its Trademark Office Practices Committee TM5 Subcommittee to provide user input and perspectives on the projects. 

IP offices are also recognizing the need to evolve. Indeed, a welcome trend that we’re seeing today is a strong tendency among the IP offices to think beyond their traditional role of registering rights. They’re looking to expand their role in the IP ecosystem by, for example, supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises, raising awareness and educating a wider audience – including the public – on IP, promoting innovation and its link to IP, working with enforcement authorities, providing expertise on legislative initiatives related to IP, and deepening their cooperation with other key stakeholders, including the other offices. Such initiatives are going to help IP offices remain relevant and also empower them.

Many IP offices are also looking at how to leverage new technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence to improve service offerings and efficiencies, including the speed at which trademarks are registered. Moreover, an increasingly global and interlinked market and higher demand for registration of IP rights present both challenges and opportunities for IP offices, which must adapt in order to move forward.

INTA is eager to provide support and contribute to the discussion. For example, the Association’s 2019 Europe Conference (with the theme of “embracing change”) included a session titled The Future of IP Offices, where senior leaders from three IP offices in Europe discussed their current priorities, and their changing role in IP protection and enforcement.

Looking more closely at Asia, we recently saw that Malaysia amended its trademark law, which would allow the country to accede to the Madrid Protocol. This, along with the passage of the Myanmar Trademark Law earlier this year, which also allows for Madrid accession, means that all 10 ASEAN countries will either be in the system or ready to join. We understand that countries such as Bangladesh, Mongolia, and Papua New Guinea in the wider region are also seriously considering joining. This shows that, despite tremendous diversity across the region, countries are embracing the international system around IP, and in particular trademarks and brands.

AIP: How is technology advancement impacting INTA and how is the association keeping up with that?

Lossignol: One of only three strategic directions in INTA’s 2018-2021 Strategic Plan is to “Embrace Innovation and Change.” I think this demonstrates how important it is for INTA to pay attention to new and emerging technologies on behalf of our members globally.

Innovations like 3D printing, artificial intelligence and blockchain do affect brands. As such, we have been weaving these topics into our meetings and conferences. In addition, INTA’s new podcast, Brand & New, specifically has been featuring experts and visionaries conversing about the intersection of innovation, technology, and IP.

Embracing innovation and change is all about getting ahead of the curve. The choice of words is also deliberate: Embracing innovation and change is about seeing the glass half full. No doubt, there will be challenges on the horizon, but we are choosing to look ahead enthusiastically and take full advantage of the opportunities that new technologies present.

We must also recognize that there is a clear relationship between brands and innovation: brands drive innovation, and at the same time, it is critical that brands remain innovative in order to maintain relevance in the marketplace. Consumers also drive innovation. They have become accustomed to quickly embracing new technologies that are changing the way industries work, and the way products, and services are consumed.

For all stakeholders in the IP industry – including brand owners, IP practitioners, and, importantly the IP offices – it’s less about attempting to adapt to the introduction of specific innovations and more about adopting a strategy for addressing innovation and change that can be applied more broadly.

INTA’s focus on innovation and change is recognition of these broader trends. This will help us to better understand the impact of innovation on brands and to equip our members to only address the challenges brought about by innovation and change, and benefit fully from the opportunities.

Finally, I should also note that the association is currently undergoing a digital transformation project, which includes an overhaul and redesign of the INTA website. Among the priorities of this project is to maximize the member experience and engage a broader IP audience.

AIP: SMEs often think that trademark registration and enforcement are expensive so tend to ignore them, what would you say to that?

Lossignol: Creativity and entrepreneurship are flourishing, and the importance of SMEs in the global economy cannot be underplayed. For example, according to the SME Finance Forum, SMEs comprise 98 percent of enterprises and employ 50 percent of the workforce in the Asia-Pacific region. And the World Bank notes that formal SMEs contribute up to 40 percent of GDP and up to 60 percent of total employment in emerging economies.

Yet, as we know, entrepreneurs face myriad financials challenges as they work to establish their businesses and gain a foothold in the market. As a result, IP and early registration of trademarks most often do not take priority in a company’s early stages. However, as their brands grow and gain traction in the marketplace, this can have serious implications for business owners and their employees, as well as for the local economy.

In short, while early trademark registration may seem to be an unnecessary expense early on, the investment pales in comparison with the costs for enforcement that may result from infringement (without registration) at a later stage.

INTA is working to identify effective ways to engage the SME/entrepreneur communities to encourage the prioritization of IP, and early registration and enforcement.

AIP: Do young people tend to have higher trademark awareness nowadays and if so, do they really prefer genuine products over prices, or is it the other way round?

Lossignol: Yes, the research shows that today, young people have a high awareness of trademarks and IP. This was a key finding of INTA’s recently published Gen Z Insights: Brands and Counterfeit Products Study, which explores the relationship between Gen Zers (those between age 18 and 23) and brands and their attitudes and perceptions of counterfeit products. It aims to unpack the importance of different practical and ethical considerations influencing Gen Z’s purchase of counterfeit products. 

Involved in the study were over 4,500 Gen Zers in 10 countries – Argentina, China, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, and the United States. On average, 85 percent of the respondents in each of the 10 countries have at least some knowledge of IP, with China, Japan, and Russia above the global average.

The study found that the top two influences when it comes to forming an opinion about fake products are morals and income, with income beating out morals globally by 10 percent. This is because Gen Zers are often making their purchase decisions in the moment where practical considerations like income can overtake moral ideals. So, while 74 percent think it’s important to buy genuine products, in practice, many still see the act as morally ambiguous.

Nevertheless, in three countries – specifically, China, Japan, and Italy – morals beat out income.

AIP: What could companies do to better protect their trademarks for Brexit?

Lossignol: Given that we continue to face multiple scenarios for Brexit (deal, no deal, new referendum, etc.), there remains no one-size-fits-all approach to recommend to brand owners, whether they’re based in the EU, UK or internationally. Complicating matters, with new leadership in government on both sides of the English Channel, we may also see changes to what has been achieved so far, even in the no-deal scenario.

While it is likely that many decisions will be made at a political level by EU and UK authorities, INTA continues to closely follow Brexit policy-related issues, working directly with the UK government and IP Office, the European Commission, EUIPO, relevant EU authorities, and other stakeholders to try and ensure that IP and brand-related issues are properly considered.

Led by INTA’s Brexit Cross-Committees Task Force, the association is following developments to ensure that our global membership has access to current information on how Brexit could impact them and to offer guidance on steps they can take to anticipate these changes. This information, as well as INTA’s Brexit Brands Toolkit is available on a dedicated Brexit webpage in the INTA website. The toolkit includes a checklist that can be tailored for use as a briefing note to general counsels or a company’s board on the key issues regarding brands and the need to allocate sufficient resources to prepare for Brexit.

In the short term, I would suggest that brand owners analyze pending trademark applications covering the EU and assess if local filing (eventually claiming priority) make sense to improve timelines to obtain a registration. Also consider registering trademarks with customs locally since the UK will eventually no longer be part of the EU.

AIP: As trademark infringement is vicious in China, what would you suggest for it to improve?

Lossignol: While trademark infringement in any country can be considered vicious, I think it’s important to recognize the positive steps taken by the Chinese government over the past few years to address this issue.

Indeed, many countries are looking to establish or revamp their trademark laws but China stands out. In April 2019, the National People’s Congress amended the Trademark Law – the so-called fourth revision. It will come into force on November 1, 2019, and focuses primarily on the issue of bad faith trademark registrations.

It signifies a positive trend to brand owners globally that Chinese authorities take seriously the deteriorating bad faith trademark filing and stockpiling problem in the following sense:

First, it lists bad faith as practical grounds for use in examination, opposition, and invalidation proceedings. It formalizes the current practice into the Law to give ammunition to brand owners at every stage. INTA had previously advocated for this practice before Chinese authorities in 2013.

And second, the bad faith actors either in applying for trademarks or bringing up malicious lawsuits shall be subject to administrative and judicial punishment. This is unprecedented.

In addition to addressing bad faith registration, the fourth revision adds further disincentives against trademark infringement by increasing the scope of destruction of infringing goods or instrument/materials used to manufacture the infringing goods.

AIP: The Annual Meeting is often held in the west. Why is it being brought to Singapore next year?

Lossignol: INTA has formalized a rotation strategy for our annual meeting whereby we take it outside the United States every three years. We gathered in Hong Kong in 2014, followed by Barcelona in 2017, and we are excited to be going to Singapore in 2020, on April 25-29.

INTA researches potential locations for annual meetings many years in advance. A confluence of factors contributed to the selection of Singapore for the 2020 event, including its vibrant environment, cultural diversity, ease of accessibility, thriving economy and achievements in the field of IP.

A critical learning from the Hong Kong Annual Meeting was that a key draw for registrants traveling from outside the region was the ability to meet with local clients and counsel from Asia, as well as networking opportunities. Singapore offers a similar potential to reinforce relationships and make new contacts. 

AIP: Should we expect more meetings to come to Asia in the future?

Lossignol: Looking ahead, we’ll be in Kuala Lumpur on October 17-18 for our 2019 Asia Conference: Brands in Changing Times. During this two-day conference we will discuss some of the key issues affecting brand owners doing business in the region today, as well as strategies to effectively innovate, protect, enforce and grow brands.

Every year, we also host a workshop in India. Notably, this year, INTA will hold its September Board of Directors in New Delhi so that the board can also attend and participate in the workshop. This marks the first time that the association is hosting a board meeting in India.

With the support of the regional representative offices in China and Singapore and a permanent consultant in India, INTA members also organize regular education roundtables throughout the year across the region, and pre-annual meeting receptions in the lead-up to the annual meeting.

INTA has a growing membership in Asia. The region is a hub of innovation, home to exciting new brands flourishing in growing economies. No doubt, there will be more INTA educational events taking place in Asia in the future.