Young Practitioners Committee Update: Young Practitioners Discuss the Impact of Technology on the Intellectual Property Field

The Young Practitioners Committee (YPC) held a highly engaging meeting on October 11, in the beautiful city of Oslo, Norway, where 40 young practitioners in the field of trademarks and related intellectual property (IP) gathered to discuss the impact of technology on IP. The event was co-hosted by BAHR AS (Norway), Brimondo (Sweden), Castrén & Snellman (Finland), Darts-ip (Belgium), and Lundgrens Advokatpartnerselskab (Denmark).

Knut Sverre Skurdal (BAHR AS, Norway) set the tone by welcoming the group and describing the increasing importance of IP in today’s businesses. Next, YPC Chair Jan Gerd Mietzel and YPC Events Subcommittee Co-Chair Carolina Calheiros (both of Rolim, Mietzel, Wohlnick & Calheiros LLP, Germany), discussed the rich variety of engaging opportunities offered to young practitioners as members of INTA.

Are Stenvik (BAHR AS, Norway) and Tiina Orre (Castrén & Snellman Attorneys Ltd, Finland) focused on the applicability of marketing control acts on advertising on the Internet and on social media. Both speakers provided descriptions of how national competition and marketing laws interrelate with European Union regulations in Norway and Finland.

Julian Goy (InfoGov Sweden AB, Sweden) addressed the role of the legal department in the effective governance of information assets. Through a highly interactive presentation, Mr. Goy identified tools for distinguishing between explicit and implicit information assets in trademark businesses.

Sander Vermeulen (Darts-ip, Belgium) described Darts-ip’s innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct image recognition. Mr. Vermeulen noted that the impact of AI is clearly present in the minds of young practitioners.

Moderator Felix Reimers (Advokatfirmaet GjessingReimers AS, Oslo) orchestrated the next phase of the event with a panel consisting of Julius Berg Kaasin (Stokke AS, Oslo), Frantzeska Papadopoulou Skarp (Stockholm University, Stockholm), Søren Danelund Reipurth (Lundgrens Advokatpartnerselskab, Denmark), and Per Kaare Nerdrum (Judge, Oslo District Court, Norway). Speakers provided advice on careers in IP law. Panelists agreed that the development of legal technology will continue at increasing speed, and that young practitioners need to keep up with that pace. With this in mind, Mr. Kaasin noted, “Be curious, be relevant, and be interested.”

Following the roundtable discussions, participants split into teams to take part in a quiz led by Stelios Stafylakis (Brimondo, Sweden), testing their knowledge of topics addressed during the event, including trademark regulations, AI, and big data. The event concluded with a reception and networking among participants, as well as discussions regarding future meetings.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of items in the INTA Bulletin, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest.