We thank all of the participants for contributing and sharing their expertise with us. Member companies are randomly chosen each month to participate as a way to connect and educate our member community. To view our previous member spotlights, click here.
I work internally with departments to identify ways that their creativity and ingenuity can be developed into assets for the business. And then externally, I work with outside counsel and other services to protect those assets.
What are the top 2 challenges in IP enforcement you see affecting brands over the next year?
The first is promotion and sales of counterfeits through video & transient content which is so challenging to monitor. The second that I see is deepfakes being used to promote counterfeit goods – like an AI created or manipulated video of a sponsored athlete directing consumers to a fake website. Wherever technology and innovation go – counterfeiters are close behind.
What’s one piece of advice you can give an SME looking to enforce their IP?
A monitoring service with good data reporting features is key because it will help to identify the scope and location of infringement issues. The data may present a reality of the scope and location that is significantly different from perception.
How did you get into brand protection?
I had to write a persuasive speech for a college course and my topic was counterfeit goods. When I first thought of the topic, my position was going to be that they’re not harmful because typically their price point is so far below the authentic goods. I didn’t get very far in my research before I completely changed my position and I have been fascinated by the topic ever since.
As the leader of Global Brand Protection, my role is to ensure that people worldwide have uninterrupted access to safe personal care products and advance the need for responsible counterfeit (and other illicit) products disposal practices.
What are the top 2 challenges in IP enforcement you see affecting brands over the next year?
Enforcement is not only about preventing counterfeit products from reaching consumers through seizures but also about how those products are disposed of after they are seized. I would love to see brands direct some of their energies on mitigating the damage to our environment, our fellow citizens, and our pets and livestock caused by today’s conventional product destruction practices. Two big challenges that brands can be tackling right now are 1) making responsible counterfeit product disposal less cost-prohibitive and 2) partnering with (or pressuring) governments to do the right thing. My hope, ultimately, is to reach a point where the default disposal approach - whether it be environmentally-supportive destruction or product repurposing, recycling or donation or a combination of these things - has a positive impact on our world.
What’s one piece of advice you can give an SME looking to enforce their IP?
My advice is to guard your intellectual property so that you can enforce it. Share the absolute minimum detail about your products pre-launch or at launch, particularly on crowdsourcing websites. Providing too much detail doubles as an invitation for criminals to copy your intellectual property (e.g., your proprietary designs, trademarks, etc.) and even beat you to market where they compete against your legitimate products and interest. I have seen too many SMEs either fail altogether or be forced to expend exorbitant resources to ‘fix’ intellectual property problems that could have been avoided and that - in the end - can likely never be fully fixed.
What hobbies or causes are you passionate about?
I love old, complex hand embroidery, particularly goldwork, and was once a Royal School of Needlework student. Learning historical embroidery techniques is my way of preserving a piece of the past that could easily be lost. I also enjoy helping women prepare to land corporate board seats. Being a member of the NYC Leadership Committee for 50/50 Women on Boards - the leading global education and advocacy campaign driving the movement toward gender balance and diversity on corporate boards - has been especially rewarding.
What’s one piece of advice you can give a brand looking to enforce their IP?
I cannot stress enough the importance of the program being an intrinsic part of the corporation. Ensure that it is part of the company’s DNA. It should not be an afterthought. Avoid internal conflicts of interests by partnering early on with members of the executive team to ensure that goals are aligned and communication to the rest of the organization is cohesive. Embrace and educate your company with the concept of IP protection being part of a total business solution.
What's the most rewarding part of your job / what is the thing that you've been most proud of in your anti-counterfeiting work?
I have to say without a doubt, the opportunity to build a solid team of professionals in this space. Some 15, or even 10 years ago, it was very difficult to find expertise in a field that requires a combination of a deep sense of justice and a keen eye to detail. In addition to the “leave no stone unturned” attitude, a willingness to accept that your work is highly connected and dependent on others is vital to effective teamwork. Talent is this area was hard to come by. It was learning as you go. Now things have changed for the better, there is more formal education in this field. Providing internship programs that can feed the talent pipeline is needed in this space now and in the future.
Who has influenced you most when it comes to how you approach your work?
My father. He was a man of few words but many actions. His work approach was extremely egalitarian. He believed in working side by side with his employees and his customers. I did not know it at the time, but somehow that same approach is what I have practiced throughout my career. We all win, or we will all lose. In this field, teamwork is paramount. I also finally learned to appreciate the wisdom behind his daily recital of the Italian phrase “chi va piano va lontano”.
Director of Strategy and Business Development, Online Brand Protection
Amsterdam, Netherlands
What is your role in your company/organization?
I lead the business development and operational teams to protect companies' IP rights online.
What's the most rewarding part of your job / what is the thing that you've been most proud of in your anti-counterfeiting work?
What first comes to mind is how proud I am of our ability to protect brands and consumers by taking down the infringers and getting fakes off the market. But for me, what I find most rewarding is when we achieve the ultimate end goal of empowering brands to create and innovate while knowing their hard work is safe.
What are your top 2 recommendations to a brand that is building up its IP enforcement program?
First, I highly recommend a 360-degree evaluation of your plan to protect your brand. This means not only assessing the counterfeiters or others infringing on your brand but also checking with your resellers and ensuring they are compliant. Additionally, as part of that evaluation, taking stock of the grey trade, and finding those unauthorized sellers who are distributing authentic goods.
My second recommendation is to have a robust, selective process for picking your distribution partners. Many brands don't have enough localization transparency on their resellers in certain markets, making it challenging to oversee and enforce non-compliance.
Who has influenced you most when it comes to how you approach your work?
I recently was very inspired reading Melinda French Gates' book The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World. It covers all the challenges women have faced in their struggle for equality, from education to the gender pay gap in the workforce. It has moved me to look at how I work and lead and empower my team to use their voice.
I oversee all enforcement efforts and our IP portfolio.
What’s one piece of advice you can give a brand looking to enforce their IP?
If your brand has their own storefront and/or website, it is extremely important to make sure your trademark portfolio includes trademark registrations in Class 35 (online and retail store services) for your brand names and logos. With the uptick of bad actors advertising and selling on social media, these registrations can be the key to removing the infringing content. We have experienced success with removing such content on Facebook accounts when bad actors use our Class 35 trademarks as their profile pictures and on their cover pages.
What’s one piece of advice you can give an SME looking to enforce their IP?
I think it is vital for a brand to take the time to learn different selling and social media platforms’ requirements for removing infringing content. By doing this, the brand can have an understanding if they have the appropriate trademark registrations in place and the turnaround time for the platforms to act. There are numerous vendors that can assist with scraping data and enforcing. Self-teaching is a great way to set expectations when working with these vendors and appreciate any hurdles they might encounter.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
I’ve been a life-long resident of the Midwest and have lived in Fort Wayne for 30 years. I enjoy travelling to beautiful places but can’t imagine living anywhere else. It might sound boring to some, but I love seeing the crops grow in perfect rows, mature and be harvested. The spring flowers, dog days of summer, autumn leaves and snowy winters are what I know. Best of all, there are some salt of the earth people here!
-Nov-05-2021-05-40-12-12-PM.png?upscale=true&width=320&upscale=true&name=Spotlight%20Photos%20(3)-Nov-05-2021-05-40-12-12-PM.png)
