IP Summit 2016 (First Part)

This Kitten was delighted to attend the 11th edition of the Pan-European Intellectual Property Summit (already announced here), which took place on 1st and 2nd December at the World Customs Organization in Brussels. Here is her report.

The event was attended by around 360 IP professionals from 37 countries. In this edition, the speakers covered trendy topics such as 3D printing, Internet of Things, unconventional trademarks, cross-border portability of content, Digital Single Market strategy, consequences of Brexit on Designs and Trademarks in the EU, and online counterfeiting. 

Since some of the sessions took place in parallel, this Kitten was forced to sometimes choose between them. As such, she would like to apologize to those speakers whom she could not cover in this post. 

Conference “From Mass Production to Customization by the Masses (3D Printing)”

The session was chaired by Dr. Anette Gärtner (Reed Smith LLP). The speakers, Samuel Gebbett (Materialise), Mette M. Andersen (LEGO) and Rob Lucas (Shulmans LLP), provided insights about the IP law implications regarding the creation of a product by using 3D printing technologies. 

From the point of view of a 3D printing Service Provider (3DpSP), Samuel Gebbett (Materialise) explained the main features of some 3D printing technologies (FDM -Fused Deposition Modeling- and SLS -Selective Laser Sintering-), their advantages over the subtractive manufacturing and applications, such as the 3D printing midsole for adidas Futurecraft using SLS technology. 

Samuel mentioned as challenges faced by a 3DpSP, the determination of IPR ownership and third-party infringement of IPRs. In addition, the “Katy Perry’s Left Shark” case (2015), which involved the takedown of a CAD file from Shapeways website due to alleged copyright infringement to the shark custom, was briefly discussed.

From the perspective of an IPR owner, Mette M. Andersen (LEGO) said the company has used 3D Printing technologies for about 20 years due to their advantages (cheap, fast and better quality) for prototyping, so, they do not consider such technologies as a threat. In addition, she highlighted one would be discouraged from mass manufacturing one of their most popular products (the standard brick) by using 3D printing technologies because it would take several hours and the quality would not be the same.

Mette also stated the official position of the company regarding 3D printing products similar or compatible with LEGO products. She said they welcome fair competition and actively monitor online activities to take action as necessary to prevent infringement of their IPRs. As well, they do not allow the use of the LEGO trademark on any 3D printed product.

Finally, from the point of view of an IP law firm practitioner, Rob Lucas (Shulmans LLP) discussed strategies for enforcing IPRs in the context of 3D printing technologies, such as the shutdown of websites and the removal of links containing infringing material. Rob also mentioned as challenges for effective enforcement of IPRs the degree to which CAD files can be shared can be quickly and easily shared, the complexity of starting cross-border proceedings and the difficulty to act against small- scale infringement occurring worldwide.

Conference “Protecting against Infringement on Social Media”

The session was chaired by Julia Anne Matheson (Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP). Chris Butler (Music Sales Group) and Caroline Perriard (BrandIT) featured as speakers.

From the perspective of copyright and related rights owners, Chris Butler (Music Sales Group) pointed out that the music industry was materially affected in a negative manner at the beginning of the digital era. However, even though there are still economic losses due to infringements, more recently the industry has taken advantage of social media and has monetized the streaming of content.

Chris explained that licensing with key social media platforms, such as YouTube, has been one of the strategies to reduce the economic loss. In addition, some platforms, like Spotify, are playing an important role.

From the point of view of trademark owners, Caroline Perriard (BrandIT) mentioned that social media constitutes a great opportunity for building market visibility, but carries with it the disadvantage of not controlling brand messaging. She highlighted that understanding the role played by the social media and its users is a successful strategy against trademark infringement.

Caroline addressed a case where this role was not well-understood, leading to an unfavorable response by consumers to brand enforcement. In 2013, a cease and desist letter was sent to a blogger, (Sara Rosso) requesting that she refrain from the use of the Nutella trademark, logo or likeness on her Facebook page that had been created for the celebration of World Nutella Day. The company withdrew the letter one week later after the fans expressed their anger to its tone and content and Rosso had darkened her social media activities.

Stay tuned for the second part of IP Summit 2016.

*Pictures are courtesy of Premier Cercle team.