Page 21 - 2017 INTA Annual Report

HIGHLIGHTS:
Law Firm Committee (2016-2017 Committee Term)
The Law Firm Committee develops member benefits, services, and
programs specifically designed for law firms.
• Produced a webcast on “Practical Considerations in Improving Your Trademark Litigation Practice”
• Created the Managing Partner Initiative, a group tasked with developing idea exchanges on topics relevant to managing partners such as artificial intelligence, talent management, and law firm governance
the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN’s) Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review Team. Overall, while the study results were not conclusive, they provide an indication of trends vis-à-vis the effects of the new gTLD program on trademark owners: registrations by brand owners were made overwhelmingly for defensive purposes; and the new gTLD program, in effect since 2013, has increased trademark defense costs, with Internet monitoring and diversion actions as the largest line items.
Then, in September, the Association published The Economic Contribution of Trademark- Intensive Industries in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, a first- of-its-kind analysis of this region. Looking at data from 2012 to 2015, the report found that across trademark-intensive industries, direct contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) varied from 17 to 50 percent, indirect contribution to GDP ranged from 40 to 60 percent, and workers’ share of the workforce accounted for 13 to 29 percent of total employment. The release of the study coincided with the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Facilitating Dialogue
INTA’s myriad events in 2017 presented opportunities for members and other stakeholders to engage in meaningful dialogue within the global trademark community, to learn from experts, to share information and benchmark, and to network. The educational programming reflected our broadened substantive scope and the evolving needs of our members and others interested in trademarks and related IP.
In addition to INTA’s traditional meetings, namely the Annual Meeting, the Leadership Meeting, and the Trademark Administrators and Practitioners Meeting, we also hosted or participated in conferences, workshops, roundtables, and various academic programs in locations around the world on pressing and cutting-edge topics.
At INTA’s 139th Annual Meeting, programming spanned a broad slate of topics to reflect multiple dynamics, including new challenges facing the IP profession, the evolving role of trademark practitioners, and additional topics of interest geared toward our developing audience of copyright and patent lawyers, brand management professionals, and government officials. For example, session topics covered the interplay between GIs and trademarks; copyright
as a means to protect and enforce rights in logos; data protection and security as trademark issues; design law; and the cost-effective use of patents. These were in addition to the more traditional sessions covering our priority policy issues, including anticounterfeiting, brand restrictions, and the Internet.
In a similarly expanded vein, the Brands and Fashion conference, which took place in New York City in March, included sessions that explored related rights. Brand Authenticity, a conference held in the fall in Berlin, Germany, focused on the synergies among brands, brand protection, sustainability, integrity, and CSR.
Our annual India workshop also took a wide view of brands, examining how in-house and outside legal counsel have become even more vital to upper management as more corporations expand into India, as well as looking at how the global issue of gender equality is changing the way brands market their products.
Among other inaugural efforts in 2017 was a series of one-day workshops titled “Free Trade Zones: Commerce vs. Counterfeits,” which took place in Berlin, Germany; Cartagena, Colombia; Dubai, UAE; Hong Kong; and New York City. Also a first, INTA hosted a panel on online brand presence for small and emerging businesses at the World Summit on the Information Society Forum, a United Nations–sponsored summit on information, which was held in June in Geneva, Switzerland.
In support of our increasingly international membership and in support of brands everywhere, INTA will continue to respond to major trends shaping the global landscape. Our goal, as part of the IP community, is always to be ahead of the curve, to influence change rather than react to it, and to ensure that the positive role that IP plays in the global economy and in the daily lives of consumers endures into the future.
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