Brand protection at a time of hyper-criticism (on demand)

Credit the pandemic, politics or social justice protests, but individuals are more empowered than at any time in the last 100 years. And digital technology has created an unprecedented platform – call it “criticism as a service”.

Increasingly, the views expressed are critical of companies, institutions and individuals who are found -- or thought to be found --- acting badly. Criticism may begin as negative, but it also can help a company innovate, improve performance and increase customer loyalty. The process starts by not ignoring it, failing to monitor it or waiting for it to gain traction.

We will:

• Discuss how trademark professionals, already heavily involved in managing PR risk, can manage their increasing responsibilities
• Discuss how those trademark professionals can make the case to their companies or clients, facilitating the discussion and using criticism to actually protect and enhance reputation
• Show not just why but how criticism can be cultivated – criticism is now a part of an IP professional’s portfolio.

Speakers 

Steve Coates, founding partner Coates IP

Steve is the founding partner of Coates IP, an IP boutique, where he specialises primarily in trademarks, domain names and copyright.  He is active in internet governance policy, currently as a member of the IP Constituency of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and previously as a member of the Business Constituency and the ICANN Nominating Committee. Steve currently sits on the advisory board of the NYU Law Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy. He is also very active at the International Trademark Association, where he has been a committee member since 2007, and led a domain name subcommittee on new gTLDs. Prior to Coates IP, Steve was senior counsel at Amazon.com where he managed the trademark practice for Amazon’s digital devices and services, as well as its domain name portfolio team. Steve was the first IP counsel at Twitter, where he managed the trademark, marketing and domain name practices, among other things.  He was also an associate at the New York City office of Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton LLP.

John Berard, CEO, Vox Populi Registry

John serves as CEO of Vox Populi Registry, the company contracted with ICANN to manage the database of dotSucks domain names. The names are offered to the public through a network of ICANN-accredited registrars. John has been a part of the domain name industry since 2003 and an active member of ICANN since 2009. Prior to joining ICANN’s Business Constituency, he was the CEO of an advertising software and services start-up. A long-time public relations executive and privacy advocate, John was a founding member of the board of TRUSTe and twice served on the board of the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Date -  23 September 2020

Time - 17:00 - 17:55 BST

Click here to register now.