IACC/INTA- 4 take aways

Boston  May 2010

Point 1/IACC:                    U.S. government is ready to collaborate with industry to shut down counterfeit activity.  This was demonstrated by largest attendance ever at IACC conference to hear Victoria Espinel, United States IP Czar,  Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator in Obama administration.

Point 2/IACC There was an interesting debate in one session between two difference corporate approaches to combatting counterfeit activity:  Offensive  vs. Defensive. Offensive uses a variety of techniques to avoid risk of counterfeit activity vs. Defensive  uses criminal justice system once the crime has been committed to go after offenders. It would be interesting to see an ROI for two different approaches.

Point 3/INTA I kept running into patent lawyers at INTA.  Then it became obvious; trademarks are growing increasingly more important in our global brand driven culture.  In-house  IP counsel are using integrated approach (trademark, copyright, patent)  to make the most of their valuable innovations.

Point 4/IACC-INTA In the best companies, IP legal and brand integrity professionals talk to one another. No corporate silos.