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# RightHub raises $15m to upgrade the infrastructure for protecting innovation

• For the first time, IP owners and professionals are able to use a single platform to do everything they need to protect innovation and ideas. From evaluating ideas and filing applications, to renewing, enforcing and monetising the IP rights!
• Recent reports in the US and EU find industries that use Intellectual Property protection account for over 41% (44% in EU) of GDP and employ 33% of total workforce. In the US alone, IP accounts for over 50% of all US merchandise exports, resulting in almost $842 billion of revenue created 1) 2)
• RightHub has built the first ever collaborative platform for the management and enforcement of Intellectual Property (IP) rights aiming at bringing an order of magnitude efficiency improvement over the current tools and processes

**LONDON, United Kingdom (1st March, 2023)** – RightHub, the collaborative IP platform, has closed a seed round of $15m in an oversubscribed round led by London-based firstminute Capital and Switzerland-based Anker Capital with participation from Conviction VC and partners at various law firms as well as successful founders in various industries. RightHub focuses on heavily reducing the burden of manual labor, cost and risk involved in the process of obtaining, managing and enforcing Intellectual Property, while simultaneously bringing transparency and cost certainty to the end customer. The investment will be used to further develop the capabilities of the RightHub platform as well as scaling up the go-to-market team across multiple geographies.

1) [Intellectual Property and the U.S. economy: Third Edition](https://www.uspto.gov/ip-policy/economic-research/intellectual-property-and-us-economy)
2) [High Growth Firms and Intellectual Property Rights](https://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/F59459A1E64B62F3C12583FC002FBD93/$FILE/high_growth_firms_study_en.pdf)
  
Innovation is the lifeblood of human progress. Every day, everywhere, there are incredible creators inspiring us all by crafting the future of humanity, the planet, and even the universe. To protect these amazing ideas and innovations, IP is a necessary system to reward the hard work and massive investments put in when building products, services, and brands. Sadly, the infrastructure that IP runs on currently does not bring justice to the innovation that flows through it. A huge amount of valuable time and cost in the IP process is taken up by manual, tedious, and cumbersome tasks, exchanging data across the world by emails or letters, and  updating records in point solution applications by endless manual data entries. All this friction is making innovators and IP professionals waste their time, talent, and skills. Significant portions of the IP budgets are being wasted on completely irrelevant activities and reliance on dated platforms and manual labor. RightHub is changing the daily life of creators seeking to protect their ideas and the IP professionals assisting them along the way.

RightHub has built a platform that connects forward-thinking creators and IP professionals everywhere bringing efficiency and peace of mind into the process of obtaining, managing, and enforcing IP. The outcome is a much more rewarding process for everyone involved. The result is more time spent on creating and innovating and less time spent on non-value-adding activities.

For IP owners, RightHub becomes their control center to evaluate innovations and brand ideas, file, renew, change ownership, watch, monitor and enforce everything IP. No switching between multiple products, exporting and importing data between various databases or communicating in risky and unwieldy ways. IP Professionals at law firms are now able to vastly increase efficiency within their IP practices while providing a modern, integrated experience to their clients and adding valuable services that generate new revenue streams with real tangible ROI for clients.

RightHub was founded in 2021 by a team of IP veterans with deep knowledge of the industry and each with over 20 years of experience from building and scaling software and services companies. The RightHub team has vastly complementary experiences ranging from R&D and patents to trademarks and online brand protection which, for the first time ever, brings together the best of all worlds when building an IP platform to solve the problems across all protection types and customer segments including IP owners, IP firms and general practice firms.

RightHub, the collaborative and inclusive platform, is already being used daily by forward-thinking creators and IP professionals in over 2,800 corporates and law firms to register, maintain and enforce IP. RightHub simplifies every aspect of the IP lifecycle and provides support along every step of the process with only a few clicks.

RightHub, with HQ in London, has a team of 75 people across its offices in the UK, US, Denmark, and Sweden. Half the team consists of IP experts while the other half consists of industry-leading technologists focusing on software development and data.

**Toni Nijm, CEO and Co-Founder of RightHub, says:**
>“It is the first time that a platform in our industry emerges with an equal emphasis on all IP types and workflows with a horizontal focus on removing the friction IP professionals experience in their daily practice. IP is, by definition, a network-based industry where communication and collaboration is a daily routine. However, the industry is still operating as if everything is done in isolation. We want to change all of that! I’m hugely excited by what we are building and the value we are creating for the industry. We are a very complementary team sharing the same vision and are determined to take on this big challenge with a world-class team of innovators, entrepreneurs, and IP experts.”

**Arek Wylegalski, Partner at firstminute Capital, comments:**
>“Spending our days searching for the best high-tech companies to support, we have been surprised to learn how little innovation the intellectual property industry itself has seen so far. In that way it is somewhat similar to venture capital - lots of small teams of highly skilled practitioners doing what they have been doing for decades with little change and not a lot of technology. It is a giant opportunity hiding in plain sight.
RightHub wants to put the customer back into the driver’s seat and to equip the IP professionals and industry IP teams with state of the art tools making them more effective in protecting IP globally.
The RightHub team consists of industry veterans who know this sector like no one else. Their vision for RightHub is incredibly exciting and they have the track record to back it up. It should not be this convoluted to protect innovations - and if RightHub succeeds, it will not be. We are proud to have co-led this investment together with Anker Capital.”
RightHub wants to put the customer back into the driver’s seat and to equip the IP professionals and industry IP teams with state of the art tools making them more effective in protecting IP globally.
The RightHub team consists of industry veterans who know this sector like no one else. Their vision for RightHub is incredibly exciting and they have the track record to back it up. It should not be this convoluted to protect innovations - and if RightHub succeeds, it will not be. We are proud to have co-led this investment together with Anker Capital.”

**Jonas Anker, Managing Partner at Anker Capital, comments:**


>“We invest in teams and ideas that have the intention and potential to transform an industry using technology as its core. IP is a fundamental cornerstone in our society but has seen very little innovation over the past century. Backing RightHub ticks all our boxes, and we are very excited to be on this journey with a world- class team to enable the creators of the future”
 
You can read more about RightHub and how we are changing the future of working with Intellectual Property at www.righthub.com.

For further information contact:

Toni Nijm, RightHub Limited

tnijm@righthub.com

Arek Wylegalski, firstminute Capital

arek@firstminute.capital

**Notes to editors**

### About RightHub

RightHub is a London-based company on a mission to upgrade the global infrastructure for protecting innovations. RightHub radically transforms the day-to-day experience of being an IP Professional. Rather than spending a significant amount of time dealing with non-value administrative tasks and jumping between multiple applications, IP Professionals are now able to manage their daily work activities in one single platform that connects them to partners around the globe while integrating relevant data and services into each context and process of the IP lifecycle.

While existing products and services on the market offer a fragmented and disjointed user experience also leading to unpredictable spend both in time and money, RightHub’s horizontal platform is providing both IP owners and IP firms a modern and transparent way of consuming and paying for IP software and services.

Website: www.righthub.com

### About firstminute capital

firstminute Capital is a $315m AUM venture fund, investing in seed stage tech companies. firstminute is sector agnostic and invests across the UK, Europe and the US. Backed by over 120 unicorn founders and founded by Brent Hoberman (founder of lastminute.com, made.com, Founders Forum) and Spencer Crawley (Goldman Sachs, DMC Partners) in 2017, firstminute has invested in over 100 companies.

https://www.firstminute.capital

### About Anker Capital

Anker Capital is a Swiss investment and corporate finance firm investing in platform companies that have the potential to disrupt the global vertical they operate in. Anker Capital has backed companies in LegalTech, MusicTech, 3D printing and Computer Vision and AI.

https://www.anker-capital.ch

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Finally...

A nice ordered list:
- test1
- test2
- test3
- test4
- test5

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They say it takes a village to raise a child and that may well be true, but it takes a world to protect a trademark. From a consumer perspective, we talk a lot about protecting the supply chain of goods and services and how that is essential to the creation and supply of the products that you buy in store. Undoubtedly, this is critically important and failure to do so would have fast and visible consequences on the shelves of the stores we visit.  

Each part of that supply chain has its own vulnerabilities – from the businesses producing raw materials, shipment and delivery of those materials, the making of the actual products, packaging and safe storage of the products, delivery to warehouses and then on to stores or directly to end-customers.  

In early-stage businesses, there are hot discussions on the topic of ‘single points of failure’. These are the weaknesses in essential components of that supply chain that make that stage particularly vulnerable to failure. For example, sourcing your raw materials for your products from more than one supplier decreases the risk of a single supplier experiencing a debilitating issue which results in you not receiving the contracted materials.  

What is perhaps less well understood, is that the management of intellectual property (IP) rights has a supply chain too in any of the processes that that apply to a particular activity. An IP right (such as a trademark) will go through many hands to safely reach registration or renewal for example. If it is a trademark that is registered across multiple regions, the number of hands increases with every region. In order for the process to go smoothly and achieve the desired result, each player must play their part perfectly.  

Practice of the law in any field tends towards archaic language, burdensome workloads and drawn-out processes but in the practice of intellectual property law, the manual processes developed in-house by lawyers to ensure the security of your IP management is nothing short of spectacular.  

It is a testament to the absolute professionalism of the lawyers and IP agents at every step of the way that so few errors creep in and the vast majority of IP management activities are completed in a flawlessly efficient manner. 

 

But all of that comes at a price – for the IP owner, the lawyers and the IP agents.   

From the perspective of the lawyers and IP agents, this is an unscalable business model riddled with time consuming, manual tasks and opportunities to miss vital details or time-sensitive actions at every step. Communications and instructions from clients can be slow and prone to something ending up in a spam box that should not!  

This system doesn’t ultimately benefit the corporate client either. Heavily manual and time-consuming tasks eat up limited budgets and where the essential activities are taking place in systems to which the client doesn’t have access, it makes it that much harder for the corporate client to understand their portfolio and the value of the strategies that the lawyers advise. It can be like having a doctor constantly diagnose diseases that you never experience symptoms of. Which in turn means that client education becomes a burden that also falls on the shoulders of the lawyers.  

For any system with stages and dependencies on each other to work to maximum efficiency, or at all, there has to be a central point of co-ordination and communication for all of the stakeholders. You wouldn’t try to run a company in such a disjointed and fractured fashion. With few realistic alternatives however, professionals have nonetheless made it work.  

But they shouldn't have to. This core issue was the inspiration behind RightHub’s end-to-end IP management platform – a collaborative and shared space where all the stakeholders could come together to manage the IP supply chain flawlessly, effortlessly, and simply. To test the platform for yourself, you can request a trial [here](https://www.righthub.com/contact?expertise=Patent,Trademark,Design). 

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Are you protecting your IP management 'supply chain'?

We sat down with our CEO Toni Nijm to discuss his views on the current trends in IP and technology, and also asked him about his outlook for the future of the industry.


### Q: How do you see the IP industry moving forward?

TN: Well, definitely a lot of AI in that. 

I see IP in three parts. 

You've got the administrative part of it, which is how you file and renew and all these things that you have to do, still involving a lot of paper and a lot of emails. 

The second part is the creation of IP. So, in terms of the attorneys or the guys that are actually drafting applications and putting these things together that will heavily be impacted by AI. 

And then the third and final piece is really focused on the analytics, seeing trends and understanding where innovation is going and trying to extract relevant information from that. 

 
### Q:  What changes do you wish to see in the IP industry?

TN: First, and the most important thing, is not wasting money on things that are not value adding. 

If you look at the size of the industry, it'’s an enormous amount of money and time spent on things like literally shuffling paper, sending emails and entering data and the likes. If you manage to solve that problem, then that money will be freed to more R&D and more IP will be created. 

Second is to make IP a bit more accessible to the normal person. And that'’s where I also see AI playing a big, big role. A lot of small businesses I’ve talked to just don't even want to go to an attorney. They think they don't understand what they're talking about, it’s too expensive, etc. I think the cost is going to come down quite a lot for the drafting of applications and the filings. 

 
### Q: Do you see any challenges in the professional part of the IP industry in moving towards these changes?

TN: If you think about the law firm side, a lot of their clients want to pay less and less for the administrative work. This means margins are going to come down, which means a lot of people are going to be laid off and we’ve already seen this with a lot of firms. Like taxi companies in the past, I think we're going to start seeing a lot of ‘uberising’, in terms of Senior people leaving, finding easy technology to jump on board, and they take some customers with them. 

Mainly out of frustration, I think we're going to see some big firms being created, but also existing firms that are more proactive, creating different models to allow for these people to stay within the firm in a different way. So that's going to be really, really exciting to follow. 

 

### Q: In my experience, lawyers are very traditional people. But from what you say here, the challenges will be the pressure that comes from their clients, do you think the industry will have to be more open?

 TN: I definitely do. We see the younger generation coming up now, which is digitally native, I would say they, even before taking a job, they are looking at “how does this firm use technology”. 

There are a lot of law firms that are pushing to move more and more in that direction. I don't think there is a lot of convincing needed. 

 

### Q: How do you see the future of IP management?

TN: When I started my first IP management software company in 2004-2005, of course, there was no cloud, it was an access database or a simple database. You put in your records, and you get your reminders and basically that's it.  

I think that IP management needs to be redefined. I think we're going to see internal IP management with automation of workflows, and on the corporate side it’s going to be a lot more focused on invention, idea creation and extraction. 

 

### Q: You've touched a bit upon this as well, but can you elaborate a little more about how you see the future of data sharing in the IP industry?

TN: If you think about the finance space, the EU forced the banks to open up their systems, which created a huge number of multibillion dollar fintech companies. That makes the life of people consuming finance a lot easier. 

I would have hoped that the IPO's would do something like this.  

One of the big missions we are going after is to make sure that communicating, creating and enforcing IP across the globe is as simple as anything else you do on a daily basis, which requires a lot of work to hide the complexity in the infrastructure of all the requirements and all the things you have to do. 

 

### Q: How do you see the future of online payments in the IP industry?

TN: In most other industries this moved on to a different level. We are still sending invoices and paying a lot of FX (foreign exchange rates) on each one of those invoices which reduces the amount of money people and companies can invest in creating IP and then innovating.  

And then the final invoice to a client is still quite high because of the additional cost across every step in the chain. So, we will definitely see a lot of those online payment solutions coming into play. 

 

### Q: Thank you. I just have one last question, which is probably something that you haven't been asked about before in interviews, but what is your guilty pleasure?

TN: Oh boy. In my private life it is definitely chocolate. 

My problem is I get quite obsessive with a lot of things, I keep saying this to everyone. When I start digging into something I just go kind of like all ends, whatever that is. That could be learning about something new or try, you know, building a company or whatever. It just becomes an obsession. But now, I mean, there's not a lot. I don't really have a lot of time honestly for guilty pleasures. But yeah, I would say chocolate.

If you want to book a meeting with Toni to talk about our services, you can do so [here](https://www.righthub.com/contact?expertise=Patent,Trademark,Design).

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Meet our CEO, Toni Nijm

### MarqVision Survey about counterfeiting says that almost 70% of DTC brands have issues
Originally published by IPWatchdog

MarqVision surveyed 295 brands, and found out that around 68% of direct-to-customer brands have had their products stolen. Apparently, almost 30% of the brands surveyed do not have a documented strategy against counterfeiting. The biggest loss is said to be the loss of brand reputation.

You can read the whole article [here](https://ipwatchdog.com/2023/02/16/report-finds-respondents-products-counterfeited-online/id=156785/).

### Audiobook narrators are concerned about the possibility that Apple has used their voices to train artificial intelligence for Audiobooks
Originally published by Wired

Apple has substituted human narrators with AI voices for some audiobooks on its platform, which resulted in frustration among narrators who were not notified about the change and fear for their jobs. Additionally, Spotify has recently updated its terms of service to permit the usage of AI to reproduce users' voices for some features, sparking concern about potential privacy violations.

You can read the whole article [here](https://www.wired.com/story/apple-spotify-audiobook-narrators-ai-contract/).


### Meta Platforms Sued Yet Again
Originally published by Entrepreneur

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram is being sued by MetaX LLC, a virtual reality business. One trademark attorney commented no the story, stating that MetaX might have a chance of winning. Founder of MetaX Justin 'JB' Bolognino is said to not want to settle.

You can read the whole article [here](https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/metax-wants-its-name-back-and-its-suing-facebook-to-get-it/443093).


### Getty Images has sued an AI art generator
Originally published by The Verge.

Getty images has filed a lawsuit against Stability AI, the creators of Stable Diffusion AI image-generation system. Getty Images claims that  around 12 million of their images were unlawfully used to train the artificial intelligence model. It is strongly suggested by evidence that Stability AI utilised Getty Images material without permission or compensation.

You can read the whole article [here](https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/6/23587393/ai-art-copyright-lawsuit-getty-images-stable-diffusion).


### Sanofi and Regeneron's gains support from several pharmaceutical companies
Originally published by Fierce Pharma

Several large pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Eli Lilly have shown support towardsSanofi and Regeneron's cholesterol drug, Praluent. The drug had been having difficulties gaining widespread use due to its high costs and regulatory barriers.

You can read the whole article [here](https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/big-pharmas-face-after-pfizer-az-lilly-and-more-back-sanofi-and-regenerons-cholesterol-drug).

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This Week In Review: Week 7

# Rouse Testimonial

Rouse Sweden is a company dedicated to providing IP services to Swedish businesses, with a focus on using innovation law to drive growth.

With a comprehensive approach, Rouse Sweden helps clients identify opportunities for innovation, streamline processes and organisational structures, and defend and safeguard their innovations. As a member of the Rouse group, Rouse Sweden leverages its expertise in emerging markets to provide clients with full-spectrum IP services, including patent and trademark protection, commercialisation, and enforcement against infringement and piracy on a global scale. These services are delivered through a seamless network of professionals to ensure clients receive the highest level of support.

### Our role

We have been assisting patent, design, and docketing matters as an integral component of Rouse's operations over the years. We serve as a resource throughout the patent process, with complete responsibility for specific areas and supplementary support in others.

### Michael Kitzler, Principal of Rouse Sweden says:

“One of the most important strategic decisions for our company has been entrusting IP Station with our administration. Over the years of working with IP Station we have received constant confirmation that we are becoming more effective in our core-business through outsourcing our IP-administration.”

[Read more about Rouse Sweden](https://rouse.com/)

If you want to book a meeting with any of our experts to talk about our services, you can do so [here](https://www.righthub.com/contact?expertise=Patent,Trademark,Design).


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Rouse

## [Who Owns Your ChatGPT Output? ](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/who-owns-your-chatgpt-output-hint-1719793/)
_Published by JD Supra_

With all the buzz lately surrounding ChatGPT the question arises - who owns the output when you use it for commercial purposes? Unfortunately, the answer is probably not you. 

## [The American Bar Association (ABA) has requested the Supreme Court Justices to consider a three-part test as the Supreme Court case on extraterritorial trademark disputes intensifies.](https://ipwatchdog.com/2023/02/08/supreme-court-case-extraterritorial-trademark-disputes-heats-aba-asks-justices-consider-three-part-test/id=156302/)
_Published by IPWatchdog_

The American Bar Association (ABA) filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on February 3rd asking the Court to clarify issues related to the application of the Lanham Act to trademark disputes that cross international borders. The brief was filed in the case of Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., a trademark dispute in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld a $90 million damage award for trademark infringement that largely took place outside of the United States.

## [Breaking News - Hermès Makes History With First NFT Trademark Trial Victory](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/breaking-news-hermes-makes-history-with-2418279/)
_Published by JD Supra_

A jury in New York City has ruled in favor of luxury fashion house Hermès in its historic trademark dispute against digital artist Mason Rothschild, relating to the brand's famous Birkin handbag. The verdict resulted in Hermès being awarded a total of $133,000 in damages for trademark infringement, dilution, and cybersquatting.

## [Lizzo Granted Trademark for '100% THAT Bitch' in Reversal After Application Was Rejected](https://people.com/music/lizzo-granted-trademark-100-percent-that-bitch-reversal-after-application-rejected/)
_Published by People_

Lizzo has received a federal trademark for "100% THAT Bitch," the well-known lyric from her 2017 single "Truth Hurts," after her previous application was denied last year.

## [Is it possible for any commonly known brand with stripes to assert trademark infringement on all striped logos? Adidas v. Thom Browne Says No](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/can-a-ubiquitous-brand-with-stripes-8384627/)
_Published by JDSupra_

Adidas recently lost its highly publicized trademark infringement lawsuit against luxury fashion brand Thom Browne, stemming from Thom Browne's use of a four-stripe logo design resembling Adidas' famous three-stripe logo, in use since the 1950s.

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This Week In Review: Week 6

Hanns Hallesius is a Senior Advisor, Search, Interim & Management Consultant, who has worked as an attorney both in-house and in private practice. 

We sat down with him to talk about the industry, including his focus on creating overlap between IP knowledge and other business competences to enable smart, strategic choices, and the services he provides in strategy, operations, and leadership. 

 
### RH – Tell us a little about what you do Hanns. 

HH – What I focus on is about creating the overlap between in depth IP knowledge and other critical business competences so that people in various functions can understand one another and work together. I have seen far too many situations where someone with a strong IP understanding but maybe limited business understanding and someone with a limited IP understanding but a strong business understanding are discussing something that is business critical but they don't understand one another. When this happens you can't do anything that is strategically right. Things happen too much by chance. Only when you enable the two parties, IP and business to have a common understanding and a common language can you begin to make smart, intelligent and truly strategic choices.   

### RH – What makes you qualified for this? 

HH, - I have always been a generalist. When I was in private practice while my colleagues were studying for EQEs, I was in a management position doing an MBA. I have always sought roles where I could combine my generalist profile and IP knowledges to work for broader strategic purposes. 

I have also spent a number of years leading the global IP function of a Multi-National Company, where these challenges are a key part of the role. 

### RH – You serve what types of clients? 

HH – To put it short, IP specialists/attorneys aiming to understand business better and businesspeople looking to understand IP. The clients are typically companies, ranging from small to large and with or without an internal IP function. But I also serve IP law firms and other IP service providers as well as investors. 

I typically provide services in three areas:  strategy, operations, and leadership. The first is mainly about developing and implementing IP strategy. Operations are in principle about finding the right tools and processes for the organisation and to secure that they are managed efficiently. Leadership is all about people and organisation, as well as IP culture. This typically also includes IP training. 

### RH- Tell me more about the training, how do you deliver it? 

HH – In different ways according to the participants. You can bring both IP and businesspeople together in a strategy game where IP is just a part of a business strategy discussion. Then you have learnings on both ends. Sitting down like this you can identify and work through the problems. 

In addition to workshops/hands-on training I partner with a provider of an E-learning platform that provides bitesize interactive modules that people can work through. It is very important to fit the training to the organisation, there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution. 

### RH – What trends in IP are you noticing? 

HH- 20 years ago I hardly ever saw anyone calling themselves an IP strategist - whatever that is. Today more and more people use this title and think it says something about what they're delivering, and I think that's a positive thing.  We’re living in a complex world and there's a lot of talk about technology developments and digitalisation opportunities. What I am focused on is trying to help companies truly integrate IP better with the IP business strategy. 

### RH – Currently you are a sole practitioner, any plans to scale up the business? 

HH – Although I am a sole practitioner presently, I cooperate with other people on larger projects. This business is still in an exploratory mode at the moment and I'm still testing stuff. But, I don't picture myself running a one man show for long term future, but then again, I enjoy flying solo right now. 

RH- Many thanks Hanns. 

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Community Spotlight: Hanns Hallesius

### An interview with Simon Lotze at Aera Law Firm 
 
Building a business case is a critical element in career progression and central to that business case is the additional revenue that you can bring to the table. [Tom Nener from Pinsent Masons gave some advice](https://www.righthub.com/insights/do-todays-attorneys) to lawyers looking to sharpen their sales skills in the IP world and central to that point is the kind of service that you can offer to clients as well as the role of IP management systems in transforming the level of service that you can provide. 
 
#### But what does that really mean? What are the core features and tools that allow you to make those changes? And how does the client experience change as a result? 

That is something that can look a little different for each lawyer and firm that implements process changes as scale throughout the organization and so we wanted to talk to an IP lawyer to see how their process and service level they offer has changed as a result of using RightHub. Simon Lotze from Aera law firm in Denmark had some answers! 
 
"Starting at the beginning of what RightHub offers young (or semi-young!) lawyers, one of the most important things it gives you is an overview. Because of the way that IP rights are managed, different portfolios and individual rights are often kind of melded together in your head - mixed up if you will. Right Hub gives you a way to get constant updated overviews of everything. And once you have worked with it for a little while, you will start to think in the way the platform shows you that things are. 
 
In a way, it gives you a sort of memory palace that allows you to keep up to date with everything that is happening as it is happening. If a client would ask "How is Trademark A doing?", you are able to answer that question so much more easily and in detail than you would otherwise. That is certainly the greatest thing that I have taken from it from a client/attorney perspective. 
 
Whenever I am on a call with a client or sitting in a meeting and they say, "we had that design, do you remember?" and I can say "yes, we registered that in January 2021 and in these countries". It works as a sort of catalyst for your memory. 
 
So often, IP rights are managed on glorified excel sheets and your memory cannot really remember an entire excel sheet line by line but when you have a complete overview of the portfolio which is easy to filter and easy to sort and you are looking at that overview every time you are doing work for that client then that is very different. Of course, I cannot remember 2,000 IP rights all at once, but I will always have a very good idea of what is happening when I am talking to the clients. 
 
And that is something that clients value very highly. They will often ask me "how do you remember where we had this mark or what happened with it?" and for me that comes from working with the RightHub platform and the different way that you are engaging with the portfolio and the data - from seeing the visual input every time you look it up. It jump starts my memory. And of course, not only do clients love to have that kind of service but it saves a lot of time for me too!" 
 
To see how RightHub creates visual overviews of portfolios and data that are easy and quick to understand (and remember!), get in touch [here](https://www.righthub.com/contact?expertise=Patent,Trademark,Design) and one of our expert team will be delighted to show you how you can begin to transform the service level that you can offer your clients! 

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Can new IP Management tools help IP attorney progress their careers? 

Return on investment is a topic close to everyone's heart in almost every facet of our lives but it's incredibly easy to lose focus on exactly what we are investing, where we are investing it and what the anticipated or actual returns should be. The reason that is simple - we're busy! I'm a fervent lover of organisation, structure, to do lists, project management tools, and colour coded files and spreadsheets by which to keep track of the vast <u>volume of just....stuff ....that needs to get done, at work, at home, for the kids and pets. When you take a step back for a few minutes, you realise that the list doesn't ever really seem to shrink, it just changes.</u>

## Hello

**Depending on who you talk to, productivity is perceived either as a hugely positive mindset or a disease of the corporate environment and it can be usefully argued that these are both valid positions. The difference between them is a thin line which I sometimes define as 'prioritisation'.**

- Hello
- There

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2. Two

- Interviews, where we discuss the current issues, innovations, changes and opportunities in the intellectual property industry 

- Networking, where attendees have the opportunity to talk with other experts in the field 

_There is a demonstrable difference between merely 'getting things done' and completing tasks that move you (or your company) forward towards key goals. The challenge is sorting out what those should be from the overwhelming lists of things that need to get done._

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[Hey you](http://www.google.se/)

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Hey you too

### Piracy Epidemic: 18% Increase in Stolen Content Worldwide in 2022
Originally posted by Variety

A new report by the Variety Intelligence Platform has found that global content piracy increased by 18% in 2022, with the entertainment industry being hit particularly hard. The report also states that the pandemic has made it easier for pirates to distribute stolen content online, and that many consumers are turning to piracy due to rising subscription costs. Asia and Latin America saw the largest increases in piracy, while the US and Europe also saw significant rises. The report suggests that the industry needs to find new ways to combat piracy, such as offering more affordable subscription options, improving content protection, and collaborating with governments to crack down on pirate sites.

You can read the whole article [here](https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/global-content-piracy-soared-18-in-2022-1235519773/).

### Metaverse Patent Wars
Originally posted by IAM

IAM published an article that discusses the patent landscape in the emerging field of the metaverse, which refers to a virtual world that people can enter and interact with using digital technology. The report analyzes the patent portfolios of various companies, including tech giants like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, as well as smaller startups. According to the report, Facebook currently has the most metaverse-related patents, followed by Microsoft and Tencent. The article notes that the metaverse is still in its early stages, and the companies that are able to establish a dominant presence in the market could potentially reap significant rewards.

You can read the whole article [here](https://www.iam-media.com/article/metaverse-who-leading-the-patent-race).

### Ukraine's Future Looks Bright According to New Report on Foreign Companies' IP Registrations
Originally posted by IPWatchdog

A new report suggests that the number of intellectual property (IP) registrations by foreign companies in Ukraine may be an indicator of confidence in the country's future. The report found that the number of IP registrations in Ukraine by foreign companies increased by 15% between 2018 and 2021, which is seen as a promising sign for the country's economy and development.

You can read the whole article [here](https://ipwatchdog.com/2023/02/18/looking-ip-register-predict-foreign-companies-confidence-ukraine-future/id=156844/).

### China's IP Protection May Be Better Than People Think
Originally posted by CHEManager

An article published by CHEManager discusses China's efforts to improve its intellectual property (IP) protection system, which has long been a concern for foreign companies doing business in the country. According to the article, China has taken a number of steps in recent years to strengthen its IP laws and enforcement mechanisms, including the creation of specialised IP courts. Several statistics suggest that IP protection in China has improved, but some challenges still remain, particularly in terms of enforcing IP rights at the local level. Despite this, the situation for IP protection in China may be better than many people think.

You can read the whole article [here](https://www.chemanager-online.com/en/news/intellectual-property-protection-china-better-many-think).

### Eminem files trademark suit against “Real Housewives” stars over 'Reasonably Shady' podcast name
Originally posted by Billboard

In a move that has caught many by surprise, Eminem's legal team has taken action to block Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon, stars of The Real Housewives of Potomac, from securing a federal trademark registration on their hit podcast, "Reasonably Shady". The rapper's lawyers have argued that the name is too similar to Eminem's longstanding nickname "Slim Shady", which has been associated with his dark, violent alter ego for decades. They claim that the overlap between the names could cause consumer confusion and imply that Eminem was somehow involved with the podcast, which could harm his brand and reputation.

You can read the whole article [here](https://www.billboard.com/pro/eminem-sues-real-housewives-drake-deposition-drama/).

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This Week In Review: Week 8

## Meet our Chief Revenue Officer, Adam Wylie

In this interview, we sit down with our CRO, Adam, a seasoned expert in the Intellectual Property (IP) industry.

We discuss the slow adoption of technology in the field and the potential for AI to revolutionize administrative tasks, and the opportunities that RightHub offers. He offers insights into the future of IP management, with a focus on data sharing and the need for a shared standard across patent, trademark, and registered rights’ data. 

Finally, we also delve into Adam's background and how they became a leader in the field of IP, as well as his personal interests.


### How do you see the IP industry moving forward?

 
AW: I think if I walked into a law firm or a corporate IP department - and I've been involved in IP for over 20 years now, - it would look very much the same as it did when I started. The working practices and the technology is pretty much the same. For an industry that protects innovation we've sometimes been slow embracing new technology, so I think that is going to change in a number of ways. And hopefully RightHub is going to be at the front of it.

If you look particularly at AI - it is massive at the moment. We've chatGPT and that is sort of the first mainstream mass market large language model, and people are already using it for marketing. Lawyers are looking at AI very, very hard at it to automate some of their tasks. 

And from a patent side of things, it's interesting because large language models like chatGPT train on publicly available data. And this stuff is in the public domain. It is by definition not novel, so it can't pertain to patent specifications. I think some smart lawyers are going to embrace AI, natural language processing and large language models, but organise it more to do with the structure of a patent. 

Patents have a defined structure in terms of abstract, description, claims, drawings, etc. So, I think they're going to start to automate a lot of those processes and hopefully get rid of some of the tedious stuff that they have to think about. 

I don't think AI is going to replace patent attorneys or trademark attorneys, but I think it's going to augment them. If they can train it the right way, I see it bringing a massive amount of efficiency to the time that lawyers have to spend on drafting, preparing documents, making sure that everything hangs together correctly. I think that change is coming, and I think the industry is going to have to embrace it. 


>I also think the industry is going to have to embrace the technology that RightHub is providing, which is essentially a horizontal platform in a vertical market, making it easier for people to plug in and essentially move data around more efficiently. Because, as you know, patents, trademarks and registered IP rights generate a huge amount of data. And the way the data is handled at the moment is very inefficient. I think anyone who can provide a solution that automates a lot of the tedious stuff is going to be on a winner. And I see that changing the industry. 

I think there'll be greater efficiency brought to the administrative stuff. I mean, it's already happening in general with contract management. You'll also see PTO’s being forced to come online in terms of the way they provide data. The more advanced offices already have APIs. I think that will grow as the market demands more efficient transfer of data. 

I think the industry is also going to change in terms of payments. The way we as an industry move money around across borders internationally is  vastly inefficient. Look at foreign exchange charges. There's been a massive fintech revolution generally in the world. If you look at retail banking, for example, it's very different now to how it was. The amount of products that the consumer can take are very different from what they were five years ago. And I think the IP industry will embrace some of those changes as well. 

 
### What do you see as the top three challenges of IP management? 


AW: People is a massive problem. The strength of an organisation is really only as good as the people, and the skill set and mindset of the people who work in IP is quite unique. We in the west are facing shrinking populations, populations that are typically not now buying into traditional office jobs. So, I think the industry needs to work hard to make it attractive working in IP because it already has the skills shortage and I think it's probably going to get worse rather than better. 

For the next one I would say processes, as I alluded to before, there’s a massive amount of inefficiency. So how do we manage things more effectively? 

And then short term, I think there will be huge pressure on budgets. Large parts of the world are not thriving economically right now. I think there's going to be pressure, particularly from corporates to trim IP budgets. So, the question is how IP departments respond to that. 

 
### How do you see the future of IP management, specifically with focus on data sharing in the IP industry?  
 

AW: Well, I think it's going to improve because it's inefficient right now. It is going to take some kind of standardisation of data to improve. 

The large problem that people are grasping within the industry right now is that data structures are different from office-to-office. The terminology is different. If we can work towards a shared standard across patent, trademark and registered rights’ data, then I think that's going to become much more efficient. 


### Can you just briefly tell me about your background in IP and how you got there?  
 

AW: My first professional career was in sales in telecoms, and quite by chance, I fell across the world of IP. A friend of mine, with a non-IP background, was a serial entrepreneur. One day he said “I need someone to work remotely for me. I'm about to get into IP and start up an IP practice with a patent attorney friend of mine. Would you like to come on board?” So, I spent three and a half years with them driving up and down the UK, talking to corporates, university tech transfer departments and law firms. 

The big idea then was fixed price filings. We'd assess each part of the patent lifecycle and then offer a fixed price for it. That was revolutionary at the time. The US now is mainly on fixed fees. We tried to get it to a subscription basis, which is essentially where we've assessed the portfolio and said for X, we will charge you Y per year. That was coming in as I then left. 

I then had the opportunity to start up the part of a company that bought a piece of patent budgeting software from the patent attorney who created it and redevelop it. We started selling that to some very big corporate IP departments and we would ask them, ‘what are your costs’ so we can get your particular costs into the forecasting software to make it more accurate. One of the biggest costs was renewals. So, we thought, well, let's partner up with a renewals company and offer renewals as well. So that's how I got into the renewals, and then the IPMS business. 

We sold that company to CPA in 2014. I went off and did patent analytics for a few years, which was interesting. But I stayed in touch with the people at CPA, so Jon-James and Toni in particular, and we sat down together and made RightHub, and here we are now. 


### The last question for from me is, what is your guilty pleasure? 
 

Well, I'm not guilty about any of my pleasures! I have two dogs, and I walk the dogs long distances out in the beautiful countryside in Yorkshire. Secondly, I ride a motorcycle. I like to ride out on some of the great roads around here. Others tell me that I am a very good cook, so I cook for my family and friends. I enjoy cooking, sharing my love. 

And then finally, I've always been very interested in art. Particularly the stuff you find in galleries and museums - paintings, drawings, sculpture, film to certain degree, photography too. Sometimes I go to an art exhibition or good museums and stand in front of a picture, and I'll just look at it for an hour or so. 

When I go to the Prado, my favourite museum in Madrid, possibly the world I'll look seriously at seven or eight paintings in the 3+ hours I'm there,  it's just overload otherwise. I tend to read a lot about art, because like anything, the more you put into it, the more you get out. You understand more of what the artist is doing, the provenance, the ‘fit’ within the canon. You understand where they've come from, you understand what they’re building upon. So that's the major interest outside of work.

To hear more about our products you can book a meeting with Adam or any of our experts [here](https://www.righthub.com/contact?expertise=Patent,Trademark,Design).

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