i-team Global: patent protection as part of the marketing strategy​​​​​​​

i-team Global is a manufacturer of cleaning machines and products for the business market. Its product range includes vacuum scrubbers, vacuum cleaners, gum removers and window and air cleaning products. The company markets these products under several trademarks, the flagship being the innovative i-mop. 

In addition to protecting their intellectual property (IP), i-team also has its own vision for en-forcing IP rights such as patent rights. Van de Ven: “We believe that once you have a patent or other IP right registered, you should be prepared from day one to also put money into enforc-ing it. It's just like major maintenance: you include a reservation for that too. That's why we have made a provision for situations where we face infringement of our IP rights.” 

When infringement is suspected, i-team takes immediate action. “Our starting point is initially to settle it amicably and move the other party to stop freely,” explains Frank van der Ven. “That starts with making our complaint known to the infringing party. We then have a notice sent to this party and thus make them aware that we believe they are infringing our rights. If we fail to reach a solution by mutual agreement, we take the next step. We don't just threaten to do it, we actually do it. We may end up taking legal action.”

Actively acting against infringement is one thing, but i-team believes it is at least as important to actually track down infringement. “For us, our i-partners are also our eyes and ears. We therefore ask them to report to us when they see a machine that looks very similar to ours, for example. Through a closed portal, our partners can report  possible infringement. We then ask for concrete examples of manifestations they have seen: a photo, name, leaflet, video or website. We then forward this information to our legal team and keep our partners informed of the follow-up via the portal. By providing immediate feedback on this, we show that we are actually doing something with their report.”

When i-team wants to take action on a possible infringement of one of their patent or other IP rights, the company engages V.O. V.O.'s patent attorney, trademark and design attorney and/or attorney at law then formulate the substantive points of infringement and take up the case. Should it come to the point that the judge passes judgment, it does not disappear into a drawer at i-team Global. Van de Ven: “For example, we communicate to our i-partners that we took action against an infringement and what the result was. As a houshold name, we find it important that our partner network also sees that we are making an effort to protect our intel-lectual property. As a result, they see us as a serious party to do business with.”

“We don't win every case, of course, but litigation keeps us on our toes,” says Van de Ven. “From every case, we learn. For example, when another party points out prior art. This can be a risk factor when you are active and not afraid to litigate. You don't always know what to expect from your counterparty. We however learned to deal with this: we know that we can overcome the risk by including fall-back positions in the patent. But also by having an unambi-guous story with which we can immediately invalidate a prior art discussion.”

Form a project team  A compact team with business, legal and technical expertise should be actively enga-ged in protecting and enforcing IP rights. In doing so, do not lose sight of the big pictu-re and also include an expert who can advise at the generic IP level. 

Make provision for ‘enforcement’Are you thinking of registering patent or other IP rights? Then also immediately make finacial provision for their enforcement and 'major maintenance'. After all, a patent represents serious value.

Consider consequences 
Give attention to detecting infringement. Don't take this lightly: infringement is always lurking. Use the eyes and ears of your (sales) network.  

Communicate actively

Make protection of your IP rights part of your (marketing) story. Make sure your net-work is aware of this and actively involve them in this. This creates trust with buyers.

Stick to the facts  A judgment against you? Do not allow yourself to be emotionally influenced or discou-raged by messages that competitors spread about your patent(s) and other IP rights.