By Fernanda Zaragoza Benitez
On March 18, 2021, HSS IPM hosted a virtual panel with distinguished speakers Julie Jones-Bernard from Shell, Julia McAulay from adidas, and Cecilia Emanuelson from IKEA. Around 100 attorneys, counsel and IP professionals across six continents joined us.
During the webinar, the panelists shared their personal experiences of dealing with the challenges of building, growing, and defending brands across many jurisdictions worldwide.
My key takeaways from the session were:
- Once you get into the IP world, you cannot help to look out for infringements even in your spare time; however, this is a common trait to IP lawyers. It is also great that they see that even beyond IP lawyers, people are becoming more and more aware of IP’s value nowadays.
- Communication is one of the organizational functions that help a company to be efficient and productive. The importance of communication and a good relationship between different departments, such as Marketing, HR, and IT, maintains an efficient flow of information.
- IKEA, adidas and Shell are value-based companies. The companies’ culture is centered on certain core behaviors. Having clear company values helps ensure that all their employees are working towards the same goals.
- Becoming an IP lawyer takes a significant investment of time and effort. But the result of a rewarding career can make it all worthwhile.