Interview with Nuria Marcos, general director of PONS IP
PONS IP, the first firm in Spain in number of registrations in the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office and in European trademark registration with the European Trademark Office, has just launched “Privileges of Invention”, the first podcast channel in Spanish on innovation, industrial and intellectual property.
Taking advantage of this circumstance, we spoke with its general director, Nuria Marcos, about intellectual property and brands and their importance for the competitiveness and success of Spanish companies in international markets.
How did the idea of creating a podcast about innovation, intellectual and industrial property come about and what type of content will it address?
Nuria Marcos: “At PONS IP we are very committed to new technologies, digital transformation and a focus on innovation. Not only because of the type of services we provide, which are highly focused, but also because of the need to offer additional layers of value to our clients by relying on new technologies. We thought it was very appropriate to use this channel that is booming. First for being innovative in that line, because there is no other office that makes use of this. And to tell you that the fact that there are no communication channels like podcasts in the industrial and intellectual property environment, I think that, furthermore, since it is a very specific aspect of law, and I think that the podcast fits quite well with the possibility of launching pills on innovative issues, that with this format precisely they can be explained in an easy, simple and direct way to clients or potential users of services like ours.
We are in a moment of digital transformation, which has been accelerated by covid. How is it experienced by a firm specialized in intellectual and industrial property like yours? How have your services changed in recent years to adapt to this new scenario?
NM: “Companies like ours were already in a powerful transformation process because because the public trademark offices themselves try to offer direct services to clients and what we have to do is put layers of value on those services, and to New technologies helped us a lot and we already had the strategic plan defined. What the covid has done is accelerate this entire process, both the launch of legaltech services direct to clients, as well as establishing new communication channels to hold meetings, presentations, organize events or communicate with clients, etc.
Covid has produced an increase in the statistics of trademark and patent applications because innovation has been enhanced. Let's hope that with the arrival of the new funds, the entire innovation environment, both public and private, will be enhanced, meaning that there will continue to be more patents. And the digital environment is going to generate a new ecosystem of brands, more adapted to this new digital environment with specific needs, and we intend to be there responding to these new needs.”
I understand that the digital transformation in companies themselves has also modified the profile of the legal services related to industrial property that they demand and the way they are requested…. What are companies asking for? As?
NM: “Exactly. A service as traditional as trademark applications… two new insights we have are that Clients are turning towards the development of new digital brands They have specific characteristics because they are more visual and simpler, which makes their protection more complex in a legal environment; the degree of protection needs to be much more precise… And defense services, which should no longer only be in a legal environment of the offices themselves where you can communicate new applications, but also in a digital environment, need to be monitored for these new digital trademarks.
And on the other hand, clients who were previously more traditional and who required personalized attention now demand more agile, more direct services; then digital channels must be enabled for those who do not want consulting or advisory services, but rather what search is an easy, fast, simple and economical procedure, you can also give them an answer on that.”
For the first time since 2008, the number of patents and trademarks increased last year. What are the data for Spain compared to neighboring countries?
NM: “There we are still in a situation of inferiority. The figures have been better than many previous years, increases that have not occurred since 2008, but Spain with respect to the European environment continues to be in a position that is not yet at the top.
And that deserves a reflection about why our companies do not see the brand as a tool to improve their competitiveness, because it is, if not it is the only one if it is the most important to achieve that. It is the way of, if I have value in my company, I don't care if it is an image, an innovative product, or even the shape of the product, via industrial designs, if I obtain a record of these characteristics that is what It will allow me to reach a market safely, to be able to defend myself better against possible usurpations of my assets and to be able to compete with companies much larger in size.
I think it is still a handicap for Spanish companies that their budgets, when they make a new development or innovation, do not take into account that industrial property is not an expense, it is a necessary investment to achieve the result, the economic objectives that are being sought.”
Perhaps this handicap comes from the fact that in Spain a large part of the productive fabric is SMEs, and it is necessary to do informative work so that they know the importance of protecting and defending their intellectual property rights.
NM: "I totally agree with you. That 93% of our companies are microSMEs and with the difficulties they have experienced due to the pandemic, For these companies to resize, grow and compete, intellectual property continues to be a key element.
One, there is not much culture, that this is not an expense, but an investment, and it is considered that a part of the budget must be dedicated to it, and more so in a global market where you are going to compete; and on the other hand, there is not only a lack of culture but a lack of opportunities to bring industrial property closer to clients in a simple, economical and effective way. A lot has to be refined so that a brand is well written, its strategy well defined, so that it is useful to the client for their commercial and business purposes.”
Precisely, if it is important to have the brand protected in the national market, it is even more so in a company that is going to open new markets. What should companies that are going to launch their products in a new market take into account?
NM: “First, the ideal world, in which the applicant for that trademark at the moment in which he is defining that new product or new service that he wants to launch on an international market has a firm like us to define if that brand is the optimal one in that market.
There it is very important to align the interests of my strategic and commercial claim, on the one hand; the new perspective that is being developed from marketing or branding for that new service, and three, which is what can or cannot be registered, it is important to do a prior analysis of where, how, and with what exclusivity I will be able to defend myself in each one of the markets I want to reach with that brand that I am jointly defining from a legal and marketing perspective.
And then once this is defined and we have launched this trademark application we will have to do proper monitoring, which is not only legal, let's see if a trademark similar to mine is requested in the Taiwan office, but we will have to take into account the domains and do online surveillanceBecause the real world is just as important as the digital world, especially in this pandemic situation where we're trying to sell through new channels. Therefore, traditional legal monitoring services must always be complemented by new online monitoring services for both brands and domains, including search engines, marketplaces, and social media.
We have designed a previous brand, we have designed a surveillance strategy and then we also need a monitoring strategy for that project from now on so that, precisely, there is no distributor policy that is not in line with this, which is very common; I'm not even talking about third-party infringements, I'm talking about your own commercial distribution network. It is important to focus on ensuring that this distribution network complies with all the operations that we have defined so that, for example, web pages of a distributor that are not authorized or that go against my commercial policy do not appear.
Focusing on those three aspects: the previous one, for the definition; the moment of protection and the surveillance strategy, and then the post, to check that my commercial policy is adequate, I think it is the best advice.”
To get out of the covid-19 crisis, the European Union has approved the Next Generation funds, and one of the priorities in which part of these funds will be invested is in innovation projects. What role will IP firms play in supporting institutions and companies?
NM: “It is great news that the focus has been placed on issues such as energy transition, digital transition, innovation itself, because industrial property has a very relevant role there. If we talk about funds, PONS IP can help generate a management model for the technological assets that are developed within these consortia so that The resulting product is well protected and can remain in a Spanish environment and not have to depend on third-party technologies again.…It's a great opportunity to reindustrialize sectors where we've always been good but have outsourced production to external environments; I'm talking about footwear, biotechnology…
It is a good time to take advantage of these funds, I insist, and industrial property is the common thread that will define that; from defining governance models of these consortia to defining what technological assets are going to be generated there, what is the optimal form of protection and establishing a whole set of licenses and appropriate forms of exploitation of these assets, so that in the end this results in the growth of the country and the improvement of each of the sectors.”
Any questions about this news?
Talk to Coexia, the AI of the foreign trade
