Ms. Natland is co-chair of INTA’s Presidential Task Force Focused on “Unlocking IP” for Non-IP Stakeholders
In a recent Q&A with the International Trademark Association (INTA), partner Susan Natland offered her perspective on the importance of promoting a public understanding of intellectual property issues.
Ms. Natland, co-chair of Knobbe Martens’ trademark and brand protection group, explained how the media in particular could help drive the narrative around IP. Speaking on the INTA Task Force’s “Unlocking IP” mission, Ms. Natland said, “We really wanted to try to drive home certain aspects of IP—such as the value IP brings to economies, the harm that stems from misuse, and the fundamental role of IP in consumer safety—and educate the media about these issues so it can ultimately help the public understand.”
To further that mission, the task force undertook several initiatives to better understand and communicate the current state of the public’s knowledge on IP issues including trademarks and brand enforcement. Ms. Natland discussed key takeaways from a consumer survey developed by the task force, including how consumers react to companies enforcing their brands in various scenarios and problematic trends concerning younger generations’ lack of awareness of the harmful effects counterfeit goods have on brand owners and communities.
In response to this research, Ms. Natland and her co-chair Trevor Little, managing editor with World Trademark Review, guided the task force in developing [1] a report which includes recommendations for IP practitioners, [2] a messaging framework to communicate about IP issues to non-IP stakeholders, and [3] a comprehensive and robust media toolkit. “Each one can be used on its own as a standalone tool and they can be scaled and used in all kinds of different ways to help businesses and the IP community go about unlocking IP,” she said.
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