INTA 2011 Leadership Meeting in Miami: Brand Creation, Enforcement Strategies and Beyond
Posted by Jamila Hunte on Mon, Nov 21, 2011
The International Trademark Association (INTA) 2011 Leadership Meeting was held this year in Miami Beach, Florida from November 8th – November 12th. As you may have guessed, I dreaded leaving the cool 10°C Ontario weather for the warm and sunny climate that would meet me when I arrived in Miami. I wanted no part of it, but as a team player I knew I had to take it for the team. Of course I am completely joking and instead of feeling hesitant to go, it was the complete opposite. I have been an active member of INTA since 2006 have been very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to attend and represent BrandProtect at various INTA Annual Meetings in different parts of the world over the years. I am currently involved with the Online Reference Committee (going on my second term) and have also been a member of the Internet Committee in the years prior to that. This was my first Leadership Meeting and I was excited to see what it had to offer.
The INTA Leadership meeting provides more than 1000 volunteers the opportunity to meet and network with INTA leaders, attend educational sessions revolving around the latest developments in trademark law and participate in committee meetings.
Since INTA is international in scope, the Leadership Meeting provides committee members a chance to meet face to face with other team members that for the majority of the term are only able communicate via conference call due to the different countries they reside in. I know that this aspect helps me to feel more connected to my team members and really makes for a great working environment once we get together. This particular Leadership Meeting gave us a chance to come together as some of our colleagues were moving on to different committee assignments for the next term.
As I mentioned before, the Leadership Meeting provides attendees with the opportunity to attend education sessions at the advanced level. Over the course of the week, two sessions stood out for me as they were in line with the topics and issues that I deal with on a daily basis. My clients consist primarily of brand owners who have concerns about their online reputation and the potential abuses that may come with having a well-known brand. With social media monitoring being one of the key services we offer to our clients at BrandProtect, I found the session entitled “Social Media and the Protégé” to be particularly interesting. The panel conducted their presentation in the form of a reality show where each contestant attempts to win the head job on the social media team of a fictitious company by showing their depth of knowledge in the world of social media. They took a creative approach to outline the steps that a company can take to protect their company’s interest by determining and handling the risks that come from the use of social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter and the widespread use of user generated content. There are legal implications with the use of social media for brand owners, which include maintaining transparency with the user by providing them with clear and established privacy and user content policies and procedures. The session also brought to light the importance of establishing a social media team within the organization that are experienced and well equipped to manage issues as they arise.
The second session that was of particular interest to me was conducted in the form of JEOPARDY! Through the game the contestants answered questions revolving around techniques for enforcing trademarks on the internet. I came to learn some interesting statistics; for example, they are predicting that by the year 2012 it is estimated that 50 million (yes million) mobile applications will be downloaded. They also used examples from developments in recent legal cases and outlined new ISP policies which all helped to demonstrate the most up-to-date techniques for enforcing trademarks on the internet. It was also interesting to hear from these industry experts that brand owners must think and plan very carefully before pursuing a case with an alleged offender. With the proliferation of social media, brand owners must be aware that anything they say or any approach that is taken can go viral and an issue that may seem small could turn into a PR nightmare if not handled with care.
As you can see a lot was accomplished in Miami besides finding the best spot on the beach (of course I would not dream of doing that) and looking for the best restaurant to eat at. The things learned and the people that I interacted with over the week have provided me with a lot of takeaways that are of value to the work that we do for our valued clients that have partnered with us to help manage and mitigate online threats on their behalf.