Tackling IP Change at Pernod Ricard

Change at Pernod Ricard Tackling IP change at Pernod Ricard brand owners, manage their IP rights and Audrey Yayon-Dauvet, group IP products. In order to ensure the best director at Pernod Ricard, explains possible consistency and harmonisation how she shaped the company’s IP in the protection and defence of our IP rights, we had to put in place an overall function to match the corporate organisation, sharing the same values and culture rules. The IP team I now coordinate is composed of six IP hubs, based near the businesspeople in each major brand-owning Feature by Trevor Little company – for example, in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden Implementing a consistent approach to and France – while also taking into account trademark and brand protection is always the development of the group.” a challenge, but in a company with a This landscape has shifted continuously decentralised portfolio of brands and a as Pernod Ricard has pursued acquisition history of expansion, the job is harder still. strategies (see illustration on page 10). In Yet this was precisely the task facing 2001 the company acquired 38% of Audrey Yayon-Dauvet when she took on the Seagram’s wines and spirits business, while role of group IP director at Pernod Ricard. in 2005 it took over Allied Domecq. “It was Since its creation in 1975, Pernod Ricard after this acquisition, and with the increase has adopted a devolved management in the size of the IP function, that the structure, being organised into a holding general counsel and senior management company, which focuses on strategic decided it was a good idea to look at the IP management and monitoring business structure,” notes Yayon-Dauvet. In 2008 activities, and brand-owning subsidiaries, came the acquisition of the Vin & Sprit which develop products and define the group, leading to the need for a dedicated global marketing strategy for their brands. team in Sweden. Yayon-Dauvet explains: “When I joined Today, the emphasis is on taking a as the global head of IP, a brand-new IP common approach to trademark issues. organisation had to be developed and She explains: “The link between the IP coordinated. Because Pernod Ricard is a hubs, which we do see as one global team, is decentralised group, which is one of its key that each team member works with one strengths, we really had to integrate the specific brand owner to obtain and protect culture of the group into the IP structure.” its IP rights and conduct all the prosecution To achieve this, the decision was taken and enforcement work. They are there to to shy away from creating a central IP manage litigation, advise, negotiate, work function (“by which I mean that we don’t on agreements such as licensing and have all the IP resources based in Paris”), sponsorship agreements, and review and instead create regional IP hubs working advertising materials. They also oversee directly in the sites where the brand owners all internet issues, like domain names (with are themselves located. the support of a single administrative and “The Pernod Ricard holding company technical contact for the whole group) and is not the owner of all the IP rights of the other areas where IP expertise is required, brands – certain of its affiliates, called such as social networking. They are www.iam-magazine.com Brands in the Boardroom 2010 11 Change at Pernod Ricard essentially involved in everything to do environments, specific markets, with the life of the brand. The hubs provide geographical indications and so on. In the support to the brand owners, which we past, individual actions would have been literally view as internal clients, and work in initiated exclusively locally, and sometimes a coordinated and positive way.” redundantly (eg, two brand-owning companies starting two distinct judicial Selling change actions against the same defendent without Having taken the decision to restructure coordinating their strategies). Today we the IP function, the next step was to sell bring one action and all agree that together this new emphasis on mark protection, and we are stronger.” the implementation of consistent practices, This consistency in approach is also to a cohort of business affiliates who had important in strengthening relations with historically developed their own strategies other business partners. “As well as the – or not. brand owners, Pernod Ricard has its own Yayon-Dauvet recalls: “As there was no integrated network of distributors – over coordinated approach, we found that in 70 affiliates dedicated to the distribution some countries certain brands, such as of our brands. It’s important for them to Martell or Chivas Regal, were really well understand how we defend our brands protected, but elsewhere brands were not against lookalikes and counterfeits. The as protected as they should have been in message received from Paris, London, specific emerging, local markets. So we New York, Stockholm or Adelaide has had to explain why IP would benefit from to be the same.” a coordinated approach at the group level. If you have different approaches to the Too much, too young? management of marks or domain names, Restructuring the IP function at Pernod you can suffer from inconsistencies in Ricard was a Herculean task and for many protection and defence. So we put in place early 30-somethings could have been a common rules, guidelines and policies to daunting challenge. Yayon-Dauvet is thus be followed by everyone and had to ensure quick to pay tribute to Ian FitzSimons, that, as well as the IP team, the general counsel of the group, “who gave me businesspeople complied with the global IP the chance to develop the IP structure, to policy in the interest of the group. When we implement global strategies and manage one talked to them about IP, we talked about one of the greatest trademark portfolios in the global IP portfolio for major principles, even world, in addition to the other IP rights though each brand has its own particular owned by the group”. Managing risk in trademark acquisitions As a brand-focused business, Pernod Ricard has been involved in In breaking down the issues at stake in a pre-acquisition audit, some high-profile deals, giving Yayon-Dauvet first-hand experience suggests Yayon-Dauvet, the first concern is “the level of protection of some of the issues that can arise when acquiring new brands. and the way the brand has been defended in the past. You need to She is keen to stress the importance of an IP audit, as often the see if there is an issue of co-existence with infringing products, as problems that may be encountered down the line can be identified was the case with Malibu, and check levels of infringement. long before they actually occur. “You also have to look at the agreements related to the brand, One is the development of lookalikes on the market – often a including all possible agreements which have an impact on IP. consequence of lack of action by the owner. She elaborates: Really, everything related to the life of the rights. We have also “When we took over Allied Domecq, we acquired the Malibu brand, found it important to go beyond the brand name itself to look at which was not protected against lookalikes by the owner. So when issues such as its treatment on the Internet and the protection of we inherited it, we had to start a strong action plan to go in and product characteristics, such as bottle shapes.” really clean up the market. While the IP audit predominately focuses on levels of protection Now the situation is much more satisfactory and most and past action, it can also contribute to the wider company audit – lookalikes have either drastically changed or disappeared adding additional value to the acquisition process. “We have altogether. If you don’t bring any action against the first or second engaged in peer reviews of litigation and agreements, and lookalike launched into a specific market, suddenly you will be supported other departments, such as the finance department, to fighting dozens as infringers won’t anticipate problems when using give a view on the value of the brand on the legal side. Finally, we the distinctive elements of your brand.” have looked at the strategy to anticipate new territories where the On the other hand, an IP audit can also provide welcome peace brand can be strong in the future – for example, in Asian or South of mind. “With the Vin & Sprit acquisition, for example, we carried American markets. So you don’t look just at the ability to exploit out an internal and external audit to investigate the level of the mark’s position in current markets, but also the possibility protection for Absolut. In this case we were really pleased as the of extending the brand and anticipating a protection strategy for brand had been well protected historically.” the future.” 12 Brands in the Boardroom 2010 www.iam-magazine.com Change at Pernod Ricard Yayon-Dauvet joined from the IP The relationship with outside counsel department of Bird & Bird in Paris, having is also one which is tackled strategically, previously obtained a law degree from the mirroring the decentralised approach to the Sorbonne and Assas in Paris, and a diploma Pernod Ricard business. “We have teams that from Sciences Po, specialising in economy are completely linked to brand owners, but and finance. She recalls: “After my studies, we also develop geographical competence – I spent almost a year as an IP in-house having people in most continents, we try to counsel at Danone, followed by a year at optimise the local expertise of each of these Stibbe Simont (now Latham & Watkins).

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