Amazon, American Red Cross, EUIPO and USPTO among roster as full keynote line-up for WTR Connect is revealed

The final names have been confirmed for the daily opening sessions at WTR Connect, with ​Jeffrey Hardy, director-general of the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade, and Cristina Posa, associate general counsel and director, and head of the Counterfeit Crimes Unit, at Amazon among the participants confirmed.

WTR Connect, which kicks off next week, is a digital concept that offers a series of individual interactive digital sessions organised around major themes. Rather than following the usual webinar or online conference model, WTR Connect is comprised of a series of hubs, each designed to facilitate discussion, benchmarking and the sharing of best practice around key topic areas and challenges facing trademark and brand leaders. Each day will start with a keynote address from, or fireside chat with, a major industry figure. This will be followed by live breakout discussions lasting for a maximum of 60 minutes.

For the opening sessions, the confirmed line-up is as follows:

• David Gooder, commissioner of trademarks at the USPTO (keynote address, 6 October)
• Graham Clemence, senior director, global IP enforcement and security at Alibaba (keynote address, 7 October)
• Cameron Mitchell, senior director, IP group market strategy at Clarivate (keynote address, 7 October)
• Jeff Hardy, director-general of the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (keynote address, 8 October)
• Christian Archambeau, executive director at the EUIPO (fireside chat, 13 October)
• JoJo Chen, global brand protection senior manager at Tencent (keynote address, 14 October)
• Alison Leader, director, legal counsel at American Red Cross (keynote address, 14 October)
• Cristina Posa, associate general counsel and director at Amazon (fireside chat, 15 October)

As noted, following the keynotes there will be a series of masterclasses, open discussion forums, closed-door boardrooms and solution rooms designed to allow participants to build their own schedule. The keynote participants join more than 120 other trademark leaders to form part of the speaking faculty.

These include experts from companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Colgate-Palmolive, Diageo, Dyson, Gilead, Gilead, GSK, Jack Daniel’s Properties, NBCUniversal, Red Bull, Starbucks, Swarovski, Target, Treasury Wine Estates, Under Armour and Walmart.

In total, over 550 people are currently signed up to attend WTR Connect, representing over 420 different companies and originating from 67 countries.

The sessions, taking place from 6 to 15 October, are timed to suit attendees in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas. Participants can register for as many sessions as they like. However, to ensure maximum interaction and discussion, capacity within each hub will be limited.

To find out more and to secure your place at WTR Connect, click here.