The 2012 annual meeting of the International Trademark Association (INTA) was the association’s 134th meeting. With nearly 10,000 IP professionals from across the globe, it was its largest yet.

With recent reports on trademark “bullying,” the breakdown of SOPA/PIPA and ICANN’s gTLD expansion, the term “intellectual property” could risk negative connotations. Public hostility to IP means companies must reconsider how to enforce their marks.

INTA President Gregg Marrazzo urged public education on IP’s value and importance. INTA launched “Unreal,” an awareness campaign targeting the next generation of consumers – teenagers – on trademark importance and harms/risks of counterfeits.

Leonard Lauder keynoted, sharing Estee Lauder tales. Their lawyers cleared “Clinique” for use, until, one month before launch, the product “Astringent Clinique” was discovered. Handled for $100,000, the lesson was learned: “You can never be too careful.” Lauder said he loved the name “Origins” so much he bought the company (that held senior rights to the mark). “Country Mist” had to change its name to “Country Moist” in Germany because “mist” translates as “manure” there. Touching on INTA’s “Unreal,” Lauder said a trademark is a “guarantee of brand promise. Counterfeiting breaks that promise.”

With more than 2000 applications submitted/in progress, totaling more than $350 million in application fees, it’s no surprise ICANN’s gTLD expansion was a hot topic. Marrazzo attributed “confusion and an array of potentially harmful illegal practices” to it, noting hopes that TAS will be the system’s only malfunction and not an indication of things to come.

A concerned trademark community noted the proposed Trademark Clearing House is “far behind” in development. One speaker warned that protecting just 5 trademarks in the sunrise period for only 150 of the expected 2000 gTLD extensions could cost nearly $150,000, concluding, “it’s both not as terrible, and also much more terrible, than you think.”

Yahoo’s J. Scott Evans advised, “Know exactly why you did, or did not apply.” With so much uncertainty regarding timing and impact, Evans contends disputes and litigation over a particular domain string or outcome of an auction are likely. If so, it could impact timing of the second round of gTLD applications – “it could be very far away.”

Social media brings brands much closer to customers, but complicates trademark enforcement. Twitter’s global brand protection manager stressed its policy in dealing with impersonators and infringers. As Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest become key marketing tools, it’s important for brands to know when to embrace, ignore or pursue infringers/impersonators. “The reality is,” Adam Palmer of Symantec observed, “that cybercriminals move at the speed of light, but we move at the speed of law.”

A sesison on “trademark trolls” particularly stood out. A trademark “troll” – defined as the attempted enforcement of rights by an individual who (allegedly) has no business owning them – example: word leaks of a new brand name, so someone attempts to register the domain name, buy AdWords on Google and set up a fake company using the name, all to try to assert prior rights.

With these “quasi-rights,” the troll then makes it “easier” for the legitimate company to buy the name from them rather than go through the legal process of having it transferred or cancelled. In case this all sounds theoretical or rare – FACT: $24 million is the estimated cost to defend against notorious troll Leo Stoller’s trademark oppositions and lawsuits.

Related: “non-traditional trolling,” when a party claims it owns the unownable, such as asserting rights in descriptive marks or phrases/cultural movements. With recent news stories of trademark “bullying,” brands’ aggressive enforcement of legitimate rights now fall in the “troll” category.

Other takeaways:

• Linguistic and legal differences make it important to understand the requirements for trademark use in Asia. Register a local language of your mark before a squatter gets the chance.

• In Latin America, registration is key to enforcement. In certain jurisdictions individuals were registering the mark far ahead of a foreign brand owner. In other cases, brand owners registered the marks, but didn’t use within allotted time, allowing third parties to step in, forcing brand owners to essentially buy back that which is theirs

• At “The Living Brand” session, P&G, Caterpillar and Fremantle Media discussed brand extension, citing Yamaha’s pianos and motorcycles , as well as Hooters’ expansion to airlines and energy-drinks. On instant brand recognition and “at least you know who you’re in bed with (your own biggest fan),” “Virgin” was held as the success to which all aspire. Risks of cannibalization, equity dilution and SKU proliferation all need to be considered too.

As one tweet from @ipkat nicely summed it up: “Saying farewell to IP friends old and new, I realize how much I learn each year from them -- such friendship is a renewable resource.”

Jerome McDonnell is Group Trademark Director for Interbrand.

A wig for your eyelashes? A naming system with a sweet tooth? A beer for a marathon? Interbrand New York’s Verbal Identity team on what names grabbed their attention this month:

Burn Note is an app fit for a secret agent. Send an email and Burn Note will destroy it once it's read. The name is clever for the category, where the majority of "security" and "privacy" apps are named using exactly those words.		Pssssst! is the name of a dry shampoo. It's also a wink and a nod. A wink to your little secret ("Pssssst! My hair only looks like its been washed"); a nod towards the sound that the spray makes. It's rare to find an onomatopoeia that is both expressive of the product and the customer experience.		Pinch Food Design is a catering company. The name encompasses Pinch's philosophy: that "just a pinch" of something can make an experience richer and more wonderful.
Fiberwig LX Mascara sounds like something you'd put on your head, not your eyelashes. The name points to the popularity of false lashes: the "fiber," or threadlike structure, makes this mascara a "wig" for your eyelashes.		Wag.com is the name of a pet food delivery service. Yes, it's the wag of a pet's tail, but it's also illustrative of the back and forth movement, or exchange, that happens with delivery. The company's tagline says it: "You sit. We fetch."		Exp.Lore.com follows a necessary trend in URL naming, splitting up the word with a period to make the URL available. The split suits the site:Exp.Lore.com is a discovery (e.g. "Exp," or explore) engine for meaningful knowledge, fueled by cross-disciplinary curiosity (e.g. "Lore," a body of knowledge held by a particular group and passed via word of mouth).
Fastrack is the name of MTA New York City's subway maintenance initiative. It’s descriptive of the transit system (a "fast track"), yet hopeful: the name aims to get travellers "fast" on "track."		Key Lime Pie is the name of the Android's latest operating system. It follows a succession of other deliciously named O.S. for the Android: JellyBean, Ice Cream Sandwich, Honey Comb, Gingerbread, et al. These names aren't just sweet, but smart: look closely and you’ll see another system in place (an alpha naming system).		Chidagos is a portmanteau name, combining "Chicago" and "hot dog." A name that cleverly suggests the name of a famous city; and a food that city's famous for.
Samuel Adams 26.2 is a specialty "marathon" beer made by Sam Adams for the Boston Marathon. The name is specialty for its insider reference: 26.2 is the number of miles in a marathon (not the alcohol content of the beer)

Written by Wynne Renz & Verbal Identity New York's Naming Team

JP Morgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, rocked the market last week when it projected losses of more than $2 billion on bad bets a trader know as "the London whale" placed. While it is the bank and its shareholders that stand to lose (and counter-parties that stand to gain), the story has been all about the bank’s CEO, Jamie Dimon.

He was front and center on Friday's Wall Street Journal’s cover. It featured a big picture of Dimon, the line "a rare black eye… for the 'King of Wall Street'" in the first paragraph and extensive quotes from Dimon, describing trades that were "flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed and poorly monitored." It's a staggering loss, but you have to hand it to Dimon for personally admitting the fault ("we will admit it, we will fix it and move on").

Dimon isn't the only CEO on the hot seat. Yahoo's CEO, Scott Thompson, came under pressure for listing an Engineering degree on his resume that he never earned. But no mea culpa here – Thompson apologized for the distraction, but blamed a recruiting agency for the actual error, something his own news team called a "lame excuse." Ouch. After the recruiting agency, Heidrick and Struggles, strongly denied the error, Thompson resigned.

The Whale of London, a phantom college degree, $2 billion down the drain – what do we learn from this?

1. It's a really big job.

2. We are desperate for leadership.

I sat behind Dimon at a dinner last week celebrating the launch of the latest Fortune 500 list. He was impressive in the panel discussion dedicated to veteran hiring initiatives, displaying his famous attention for detail as he rattled off the number of veterans the bank had hired and the first names of everyone on the bank's recruiting team.

During the applause, as Dimon stepped down, an executive at a rival bank sitting next to me leaned in and allowed, "I have to hand it to him, he really knows his business." The bank's trading losses remind us that knowing a business as large as JP Morgan, or Yahoo! for that matter, is a really big job.

Is it too big? Do we ask too much?

In both cases, people will be held accountable. Thompson and several Yahoo board members are already out and other jobs will surely be lost. The pressure on Dimon is intense. There is genuine outrage. And it's personal.

That's the point. These stories aren't about JP Morgan and Yahoo! or the state of corporate oversight.

They are about the men at the wheel. What they knew and what they didn't. Who they are and who they are not.

The world is desperate for leadership.

We work with big companies like JP Morgan and Yahoo! and we see it all the time. People, teams, organizations thrive under great leadership and they wilt in its absence.

Brands can help. Brands articulate strategy. They align and inspire organizations to deliver. They change the behavior of customers and markets. Managing the brand is an essential skill for today's CEO.

Walter Kielholz, a great leader in his own right and the chairman of Swiss Re (and earlier, JP Morgan's competitor, Credit Suisse) once told me that he thought the brand was the most powerful tool available to the CEO.

He’s right. CEOs need strong brands.

And it cuts both ways.

Every strong brand needs a great CEO.

Josh Feldmeth is CEO of Interbrand New York.

“At Interbrand, Corporate Citizenship is woven into our values, our behaviors and our practice,” says Executive Director Tom Zara. In addition to Interbrand’s recent Corporate Citizenship Day of Service, Interbrand New York participated in The Great Recycle.

In an effort to support New York City’s mission to dramatically boost recycling, Honest Tea, GrowNYC, Recyclebank, Coca-Cola Live Positively, Global Inheritance and 5-Boro Green Services launched The Great Recycle. With an event held in Times Square, including a 30-foot-tall inflatable recycling bin, and a digital campaign to encourage people to pledge to recycle, 15,641 bottles were collected on site and 35,500 people around the country pledged to recycle 275,000 containers weekly.

“New York City is making great strides toward a greener, greater future, and initiatives like ‘The Great Recycle’ expand on opportunities for residents and visitors alike to help us meet our sustainability goals,” said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “Thousands of people here in New York and beyond will think twice about throwing out plastics and other recyclables, and the materials collected will be put to excellent use in our public school urban gardens.”

Interbrand recycles year-round and was happy to engage in this campaign. Our building’s waste management company sorts the recyclable cans and bottles from the regular trash after it is picked up. But during this special campaign, all soda cans from conference rooms, all beer and wine bottles from our weekly Friday Brain Wash events and any drink pouches from Bring Your Child to Work Day were deposited into specially marked bins throughout the office. Each floor had two or more clearly marked bins to collect empty beverage containers.

After one week of collecting, the office pulled together a total of 728 glass and plastic bottles, including 255 soda cans. IBNY’s Rachel Kessman and Lauren Gallo attended The Great Recycle event in Times Square where they pledged into a microphone that Interbrand New York would recycle more than 99 items per week throughout the next year.

As Tom Zara observes, “Corporate Citizenship must be in the fabric of an organization to be effective. The hypocrisy of saying and not doing is the legacy of many companies. Volunteerism, a not–for–profit Foundation, Interbrand Inspired, a year long recycling commitment, energy efficiency metrics, and health and wellness programs are just a few of the demonstrations of Citizenship that show we ‘walk the talk.’”

The plastic bottles collected in The Great Recycle will become plastic lumber for GrowNYC to use in building urban gardens for NYC public schools, as part of Grow to Learn. 5-Boro Green Services will recycle cans, glass and juice boxes.

Plans are underway for more Great Recycle events, with announcements expected in the coming weeks. “We are thrilled with New York’s response to our invitation to keep the (re)cycle going,” said Seth Goldman, co-founder and TeaEO of Honest Tea. The company assures the 30-foot inflatable recycling bin will also be reused.

To make a pledge to recycle, visit www.thegreatrecycle.com. As a fun and playful aspect of the campaign, people can also recycle an old Facebook post!

The 2012 Olympic Games is truly an exciting event for all GB citizens (Londoners especially), and for me personally given the fact I live one tube station from the Olympic Park. This will be the first time for many of us to really live and breathe the Olympic Games. As the city of London will be at the heart of the Games it gives us a great platform to witness and experience how global brand sponsors, such as Adidas, McDonalds and Cisco, are activating these multimillion pound deals for their customers and their employees. It also raises questions as to whether or not these partnerships are truly contributing real value back to the brands and what metrics sponsors have in place to measure this.

As mentioned, Cisco is a key sponsor and the proud supporter and network infrastructure provider of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Specifically, Cisco has provided 2,200 switches, 1,000 Access Points, 7,000 Cable TV Outlets, 16,500 Telephones and 80,000 Ports, all of which will prove crucial to the communications infrastructure for the Games. Additionally, Cisco put forward a $500m investment supporting London’s Tech City and other tech start-ups. But arguably more importantly, Cisco plans to leave a lasting legacy through Building a Brilliant Future, which will primarily benefit young people. In London alone the firm is setting up 30 Cisco Network Academies in East London schools.

Having been invited to Cisco House for an evening by David Critchley (Managing Director, Commercial at Cisco Systems) and featuring a discussion hosted by BBC Presenter Sue Thearle, with special guests, I knew this was an opportunity not to be missed. The special guests were Olympic Athletes James Cracknell, Luke Campbell and David Weir, who were speaking about the Games and the Legacy of the Games. I was keen to share my experience and first-hand account of how Cisco is activating this partnership.

Cisco House is a building designed to showcase fresh thinking in terms of new business and service models. Cisco’s UK and Ireland CEO Phil Smith details, “the space would perfectly demonstrate Cisco’s brand identity and the focus of Cisco House is not on what Cisco makes, but what we make possible.” It will be open for five months from April 2012 and is expected to greet more than 11,000 guests.

Cisco House sits on the roof of the Westfield Stratford shopping centre, Europe’s largest shopping mall, so as you can imagine the view over the Olympic Village is spectacular. When walking into the space it showcases modern technology, innovation, simplicity, design and uniqueness. On the ground floor there are touchscreens displaying Cisco case studies, kinetic technology where you can try on items of clothing from local retail stores and Cisco’s own TelePresence technology all on show. It was a real eye opener in terms of how far Cisco is redesigning technology for our long-term futures. All these touchpoints are truly delivering on Cisco’s core values of being Collaborative, Innovative and Inclusive.

As part of the Cisco House experience all guests had the opportunity to go on a trip called the “Business Transformation Experience.” We were taken through to a tube carriage at Cisco House station, where we took a seat and put on 3D glasses. Stephen Fry, one of the most subscribed to celebrities on Twitter with nearly 4.5M followers and counting, then greeted travelers. Stephen took us on a journey illustrating Cisco’s fresh thinking and ground-breaking technology, delivering competitive advantage to change the way we live, learn, work and play across the globe.

The Cisco House experience will not only be remembered for delivering an engaging and seamless brand experience for both Cisco employees and customers. It conveys an experience that lives and breathes the message of the 2012 Olympic message - Inspiring a Generation.

Damien Moore-Evans is Interbrand London's New Business Executive.