Marques conference, Hotel Grand Dino, Baveno
Day one kicked off with an interesting address from Marques Council president, Nunzia Varricchio, followed by a word from the director general in charge of anti-counterfeiting at the Italian Patent and Trademark Office. She highlighted that despite the troubling economic climate in Italy, trademark applications have grown, while a government innovation package worth €89 million will help companies protect their assets aboard.
The highlight of the first day was a presentation by Francesco Morace, president of Future Concept Lab, a marketing and consumer research institute in Italy.
He spoke on the changing paradigms of consumption, and set out his vision for how brands will need to change their thinking in order to thrive in the future. Indeed, in our “post-opulence” world, he said, “brands are no longer the paradigms.” Rather, values of sustainability, sharing, body care, time and space and the central role of food are becoming the new cultural paradigm. “Lifestyles are over,” he said. “Life occasions” are key.
He talked of a future in which the “innovative standards will be truth, beauty and vocation”, and where a brand’s credibility will be more important than its visibility. Brands need to realise that the individual’s experience is of paramount importance, and that this individual experience is not private, but shared. “We can’t think globally,” he said. “The problem is to be global, but the starting point is to be local.”
“RATHER, VALUES OF SUSTAINABILITY, SHARING, BODY CARE, TIME AND SPACE AND THE CENTRAL ROLE OF FOOD ARE BECOMING THE NEW CULTURAL PARADIGM.”
Later, Vanni Volpi, worldwide IP counsel for Gucci, talked about how that company is managing the challenges of having to be a digital brand as well as a fashion house. He described Gucci’s online efforts, including enforcement against domain hijackers and online sellers of counterfeit products. The problem in the online arena, he said, is that “most of our partners are also the partners of the counterfeiters”, and it can be very difficult to police, for example, search results across many different countries.
Volpi’s advice? “Brands need to be proactive, not reactive.” It sounds like it’s working for Gucci, which came sixth in a 2010 survey of best digital brands.
Other conference highlights included a fascinating presentation from Time Warner’s Daretia Austin on the steps that company is taking to reduce digital piracy and allow its television and fi lm audience greater choice and security in what it watches.
The final day saw President António Campinos mount a robust defence of OHIM, while acknowledging that the organisation still has work to do to make its procedures more efficient.
Interestingly, he also replied to a question about the notorious IP Translator case on class-headings by saying that he wished OHIM had been given time to amend the case, and that the effects of the decision will have an impact on everyone “in a manner that we would not have wanted if we’d known in advance.” He expressed his hope that “we will reach agreement on the way forward in Europe soon enough.”
Finally, Michael Edenborough QC, of Serle Court chambers in London, gave an account of the gap between European case law and the reality of IP in Europe. In a wide-ranging presentation, he spoke about IP Translator, the Ebay v L’Oreal case and the Tresplain Investments v OHIM case about whether a mark has more than local significance.
He observed that OHIM has a great advantage in such cases, because it has far greater experience of using the process than most of the advocates arguing against it. Th e Marques conference in 2012 will take place in Palermo.
