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“Tere were further integrity issues as the ‘chavtastic’ era continued. Te Burberry brand was hijacked by this culture and was worn by unwanted brand ambassadors, including celebrity cocaine users.”
But Willetts said to tackle the twin counterfeiting and deteriorating brand problems, Burberry was relentless and rethought its strategy. “It withdrew the £15 pound check hat, which was one of its most accessible products, and its legal team really stepped up the pace,” she added.
In 2005, Burberry appointed Andrea Ahrents as chief executive, soon focusing on tweaking existing products and introducing new ones. Burberry launched two regional brands in Japan.
“Tese guys did not rest on their laurels,” said Willetts. “Maintaining brand integrity is absolutely key for them. Burberry was extremely clever with
collaboration and brand ambassadors,
championing British celebrities including Emma Watson (Hermione in the Harry Potter films). It focused on store designs—its flagship stores are phenomenal—and technological investment, which has been really revolutionary.”
At the same time, Burberry maintained a strong protection policy that sent a clear message to counterfeiters, Willetts said. “Last year, a Manhattan court awarded $100 million damages to Burberry in a case that tracked back to China.
Te company also attacked distribution networks such as TK Maxx, which it is believed to have settled privately with.”
Willetts said Burberry’s response shows that finding new markets to operate in is important for beating brand dilution. She said the luxury brand market is lucrative, with Europe being an important selling region while “China is massive and will continue to be as its wealth continues to grow.” She highlighted Singapore, Sao Paolo and Russia as other important markets.
She added: “Burberry moved away from the check and its logo. Louis Vuitton is also adopting the same strategy, citing ‘logo fatigue’.”
“You need to chat to your clients about their
corporate strategy—which products do they care about protecting. You can’t chase everyone,” Willetts said.
Brands should also carefully consider their social media policy—if any—they adopt, Willetts said. “When to use marks on Twitter or Facebook can be a headache for trademark attorneys. Pragmatism has to preserve—there is always a risk with social media, but make sure there is a clear company policy,” she said.
Willetts also noted that during the process of producing company assets, such as logos, there’s
Nokia sells a chunk of patents to Pendrell
US non-practising entity Pendrell Corporation has acquired 125 patents owned by Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia, it was announced on March 25.
According to a Pendrell statement, 81 of the 125 patents are essential to industry standards. Te patents cover a range of
Jan Lindberg, a partner at law firm Magnusson in Helsinki, said it could be argued that large companies are becoming more eager to monetise patent assets that are not within their core assets.
foundational memory
technologies used in mobile phones, laptop computers and MP3 players, including secure digital (SD) cards, embedded flash and universal flash storage capabilities.
Te global market for the memory technologies sold to Pendrell has been projected at more than $12 billion in 2013, while industry analysts have predicted the value of SD cards alone to exceed $21 billion in 2018.
Pendrell has created a subsidiary, Helsinki Memory Technologies, Oy (HMT), to continue Nokia’s R&D efforts in Finland. Nokia will receive a licence to all future patents acquired by HMT and any new IP developed by HMT. Any proceeds from patents licensed will be invested in further R&D.
Mario Obeidat, vice president of Pendrell, said: “Te opportunity to
www.worldipreview.com
licensing for acquire
technologies as foundational and relevant as those represented by these portfolios is rare.
“Tis acquisition represents a unique opportunity to expand our licensing initiatives, as these patents are relatively unencumbered. Only a handful of IP portfolios cover these technologies globally, and an established licensing ecosystem is already in place.”
“Drivers behind this trend are not only connected with generating revenue, but also to a need to decrease prosecution or maintenance costs,” he said.
“While a failed patent licensing programme
might also turn out to be a very costly exercise, this discussed model could also be seen as one form of ‘hedging’, as the company divesting patent assets typically gains at least some kind of upfront payment. If everything goes well, they might get steady revenue streams in addition.”
He said that the valuations in patent sales and
patent-intensive mergers and acquisitions vary, though a valuation of $12 billion seems very high, considering Nokia’s market value of $12.3 billion on the Helsinki stock exchange.
He added: “In Nordic countries, but also to some extent at
the global level, smaller players with
strategic assets and portfolios are currently preferred over large portfolios.”.
Trademarks Brands and the Internet Volume 2, Issue 2 9
an “amazing” amount of IP that is generated externally. “Make sure your design teams are transferring the IP to you, as many businesses don’t think to transfer. It’s very easy to transfer moral and exploitation rights in the UK but not in Germany or South Africa.”
Te conference lasted from March 21 to March 22.
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