Interview with Béatrix de Russé

Interview with Béatrix de Russé

CIP is 20 years old this year.  What are the major changes that you have seen in the IP world over the past 20 years?

20 years ago, there was an increased awareness of the benefits of IP at the Board level in many companies; now it seems that this trend has more or less disappeared, except in Asia. China has emerged as a major IP actor, as evidenced by the number of filed patents and the establishment of special IP courts. But Europe is proving more resistant to IP coordination and reinforcement ( UPC, European patent …). The USA is again becoming more patent adverse. The opposition between IP promoters and their opponents has reached an unprecedented level.

What do you see as the major IP changes or challenges for the next 20 years?

More pressure on IP and increased difficulties for IP holders due to the current challenging of various groups promoting the free use of innovation; Chinese IP holders ” invading” the rest of the world with their patents ( quality will improve) and forcing westerners to use their technologies; continuous anti IP lobbying in sectors such as green and clean technologies or pharmacy; difficulties to adapt current IP rights to digital and dematerialized innovation.

What advice do you have on how to manage IP in times of crisis?

Continue to promote IP at all levels: governments, corporations, SMEs, etc; continue to innovate and file patents, while thinking of potentially new IP rights adapted to the new world; press for more coordination at worldwide level, including with China.

Will this current crisis create changes in how IP is used or managed and, will it last beyond the crisis?

Either this crisis will open eyes on the need for more coordination at regional and worldwide levels and efforts may lead to a revival of IP, even in different forms and to greater innovation for, ao, the pubic welfare. Or clusters will appear and major corporations will use their rights for their sole benefit, reducing competition, increasing prices, and impairing innovation…

About Béatrix de Russé’s role

After 20 years as the head of IP and Licensing at Thomson/Technicolor, I am now a consultant in IP strategy, licensing, etc.
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Beatrix De Russe

Beatrix De Russe

Béatrix de Russé has recently become president of a boutique IP consulting firm, BAIP, providing consultation on various IP matters, such as IP strategy, organization, licensing, JVs and any matters relating to IP to corporations throughout the world. She is leveraging her 20 year experience as the head of IP and Licensing at Thomson/Technicolor, sitting at the Executive Committee, then at the Board of Directors.  She built and managed one of the biggest and most lucrative high-tech patent licensing operations in the world, realizing an annual licensing revenue above $ 600 M, with a team which grew from a handful to more than 200 highly experienced IP professionals across the world. She had joined what was then Thomson SA in 1976, initially as an international contract lawyer..  She was inducted into the IP Hall of Fame in 2012.

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