Aligning Brand Protection with Environmental Goals: Three Questions with Peter Dernbach

Peter Dernbach, Winkler Partners (Taiwan)

Peter Dernbach of Winkler Partners (Taiwan), a member of the 2025 Leadership Meeting Project Team, will moderate a session at the upcoming 2025 Leadership Meeting titled Sustainability and IP: Aligning Brand Protection with Environmental Goals. The panel will explore how trademarks can support environmental initiatives, addressing topics such as green claims, eco-labeling, and the integration of sustainability into intellectual property (IP) strategies.

In this interview, Mr. Dernbach sheds light on the role of brands in building trust in a company’s sustainability program, shares his perspective on why marketers need to look at green claims as more than just marketing messages, and offers his advice for IP practitioners looking to deepen their involvement in their companies’ sustainability initiatives.

How does a company’s sustainability program benefit when its brands are effectively protected?
A company’s sustainability program and its brand protection both come down to trust—the confidence consumers and stakeholders have that a brand delivers on its promises. When a brand shows that it is effectively protecting its brand in all its key markets, it’s showing all stakeholders that it really “walks the walk.”

In today’s world, where people are increasingly skeptical and have less trust in traditional institutions like governments and the media, it’s particularly important for brands to be seen as effectively protecting their space in the minds of consumers. This is true for brand enforcement efforts as well as in communications about a brand’s sustainability program. To the extent that consumers and other stakeholders have more trust in a brand, they are more likely to extend that to the brand owner’s sustainability programs.

What is the most important thing that marketers tend to overlook from an IP perspective when it comes to green claims?
A major oversight by marketers today is their failure to recognize that green claims are not just marketing messages—they are legal assertions that must be verifiable across multiple jurisdictions. While marketers are motivated to communicate benefits quickly and effectively, using words like “eco,” “green,” or “sustainable” in brand names or marketing language can lead to legal liability for false claims. And even when a claim is substantiated, it can still be difficult to own brand names or slogans that contain these terms.

An increasing number of jurisdictions are developing their own guidelines for substantiating green claims—and there’s currently a lack of harmonization among them. While the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has had its Green Guides for decades, the landscape is still evolving. Despite the current uncertainty about the EU Green Claims Directive, it’s clear that the EU and other jurisdictions are looking to require rigorous, pre-approved scientific substantiation for any environmental claims. While marketers may believe that certain terms could be effective in marketing, they need to realize that they may give rise to liability for the brand owner, and the standards vary among markets.

Even if “green” marketing terms don’t give rise to liability for the brand owner, given that the terms used are typically descriptive of an aspect of the goods or service, it may be very difficult for any individual brand owner to own that space in the minds of consumers. Thus, the terms will remain available to other competitors to use as well.

Companies can find themselves on a narrow pathway between greenwashing (making misleading claims that overstate their achievements) and greenhushing (failing to communicate valid achievements). As consumers and stakeholders around the world increasingly care about sustainability, this is an opportunity for all of us as brand professionals to identify best practices for authentically communicating a brand’s sustainability achievements to date.

What advice do you have for IP practitioners looking to play a larger and more influential role in their organization’s sustainability initiatives?
First, IP practitioners should proactively seek a seat at the table where ESG [environmental, social, and governance] goals, new products, and marketing campaigns are being formulated. Some of our clients that are leading in this space have their in-house brand professionals present at early brainstorming meetings with business leaders. This allows them to be positioned as a strategic advisor from the start, rather than a compliance or clearance checkpoint that the team must get through before a product launch.

Second, we all need to become more knowledgeable about the evolving landscape of ESG regulation in our clients’ key jurisdictions. As there is currently a low degree of harmonization, IP practitioners are uniquely positioned to play the role of expert navigator. INTA, too, is well positioned to become a resource for tools and best practices in this space. This is a high-value, strategic function that protects the company from significant legal and reputational harm.

Finally, IP practitioners can help clients develop a substantiation library. We’re experts at building evidence to support a brand’s reputation and fame and then creating repositories that can be leveraged globally. As the demand for substantiation of sustainability claims will no doubt increase over time, we can help by developing a repository of reports that can be used whenever needed.

INTA’s Leadership Meeting is by invitation only to current committee members, chairs, vice chairs, and subcommittee members; current Board of Directors and counsel; past presidents and counsel; current select project teams; and staff from government IP offices.

The 2025 Leadership Meeting takes place in Hollywood, Florida, USA, from November 18 to 21. Early-bird registration ends September 5. Learn more and register.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this article, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest. The opinions expressed in this interview are that of the person being interviewed and do not purport to reflect the views of INTA or its members.

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