The final sessions of the Inspiration Theater at The Inspired Home Show examined how partnerships can provide new twists to products and how to protect products by establishing legal rights.
In the Inspired Home Show session, “Intellectual Property Protection for the Home Industry,” attorney James Aquilina of Quarles & Brady LLP Provided an overview of how the various forms of intellectual property protections including utility and design patents, copyrights and trademarks, can safeguard inventions, product designs, artistic works, even if they are first expressed as consumer products, and brands as developed by home goods companies.
Intellectual property has been a prominent topic in the home goods sector recently, especially in the establishment of Beyond, Inc., which purchased the intellectual property of Bed Bath and Beyond, Buy Buy Baby and Zulily.
Aquilina advises clients on intellectual property procurement, strategic portfolio development and management, offensive and defensive dispute matters, licensing and anti-counterfeiting efforts. Aquilina has built a prominent reputation as an IP strategist and in the field of U.S. design law, and he counsels clients, including those from the home industry, in areas such as utility and design patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. He is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Quarles’ Protecting the Product blog.
Aquilina pointed out that protecting intellectual property can be a complex matter for companies looking to protect their designs because the various safeguards apply differently but more than one can cover a product depending on what concerns a business and what kind of protection it wants. And how much it wants to pay because the safeguards involved come with different costs attached, as the amount of time and money needed to obtain them varies.
So, Aquilina said, before a company pursues an IP safeguard and assumes the related costs, it should ask: “How important is this product?”
A copyright may sufficiently protect what concerns a company and can be relatively inexpensive compared to other safeguards, but a more powerful protection, trade dress, can take years to obtain. The costs involved are only necessary to assume when the subject of the protection is so closely associated with a company that their identity is virtually one in the same.
Intellectual property is a term that has several potential safeguards including utility patents for inventions, useful methods and systems and compositions, as well as trade secrets, including valuable and closely held business information. Another is industrial design rights covering novel appearances of useful products, copyrights on creative works without a particular function, and trademarks, those symbols that serve as a source in a way that identifies a function.
Patents have a long history in protecting intellectual property and are important to defending the research and development costs of an item. Patents give holders the right to exclude others from making, using, selling or importing a covered product or product attribute, and deter others from copying the protected product. A patent can increase the value of a business given that the patents a company holds figure into its overall value. They also can provide leverage in business activities given the value of the patent and demand for products that it covers in addition to marketing and advertising, where the terms patented and patent pending can add to perceived value, Aquilina said.
Each protection has its own wrinkles. For example, IP safeguards include those for trade secrets, which cover protected information that is not generally known or reasonably accessible. However, prohibitions against acting on them by outside businesses or individuals only remain in force as long as a company ensures they are kept secret. The protection no longer applies if a company allows a trade secret to get out. The most famous trade secret is probably the formula for Coca-Cola.
For those considering IP protection, it’s important to understand that each has its own purpose and scope. For instance, to get a design patent, a product must be novel, non-obvious and ornamental in use. Design patents are good for 15 years from issue and protection is against substantial similarity and design confusion with the covered product. A copyright covers original expressions, tangible or intellectual, and lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years, and the protection is against substantial similarity or copying. Trade dress is a source identifying, or effectively inseparable from the party seeking the protection, and is perpetual as long as what’s covered continues in use. The purpose of a trademark is to protect consumers from products that aren’t authentic in their production, but, of course, it protects the producer as well.
As one thing, say a unique design element, can get various kinds of coverage, companies should research their options and determine just how much protection they need, and how much they want to invest in that coverage.
Cassandra Gagnon, Strategist, Interiors, WGSN
In a marketplace where everyone is looking for an edge, Cassandra Gagnon, strategist, interiors, at trend forecaster WGSN, discussed how teamwork can benefit home goods companies in the session, “The Power of Cross-Industry Collaboration.”
Between the endless aisle and information overflow generated by the myriad media trying to grab the attention of consumers today, partnerships between businesses in one industry and players in other sectors can give products a lift in profile. Cross-industry collaboration isn’t new, of course, as anyone who owns a kitchen appliance with a chef’s name on it knows, but because more companies have seen the value of such cooperation, more businesses and even individuals including independent designers and artists are looking for partners that can boost the prospects of both parties.
Collaborations are becoming increasingly diverse as makers, influencers, fashion designers, chefs and others team up with homewares and gifting brands to create fresh product collections, Gagnon pointed out, and even establish long-term partnerships that attract new audiences.
In the most basic terms, cross-industry collaborations are often guaranteed to generate interest from fans of the partner chosen and vice versa.
“When you’re working with someone cross industry, there is going to be that balance between you’re going to get some of their audience, but they’re getting some of yours as well,” she said.
Cross-industry collaborations offer, in one example, novelty in a market where saturation is a concern for vendors and retailers.
They also can attract new shoppers to a banner or a brand. Limited-time collaborations can create a sense of urgency that can attract consumers who want to feel part of an event or have a particular affinity with a collaborative partner. Given the various ways of reaching consumers today, long-term or temporary collaborations can boost companies as they try to elevate their messages above the everyday noise consumers experience.
Artist collaboration can provide prominence, particularly when creators are already popular in the marketplace based on their own work or earlier collaborations. Many consumers today are into global styles and crafts, so partnerships with companies, organizations and the makers who provide them can win an audience. In addition, partnerships, short-term or otherwise, producing items that can be sold as collectibles can generate interest. As an example of such an artist/cookware maker pairing, Gagnon pointed to a Goldilocks dutch oven embellished by a design from relief print maker Anastasia Inciardi.
Nespresso x Pantone Cold Brew Coffee Maker
Anthropologie x The Met Cocktail Shaker
Anastasia Inciardi Goldilocks Dutch Oven
Other considerations for cross-industry collaboration include fashion connections, where Gagnon pointed to a Stanley tumbler partnership with LoveShackFancy. Then, kidult licensing can apply to the use of children’s themes in adult products or to appealing to nostalgia, as with applying Crayola colors to home goods. Partnerships with restaurants and hotels that have singular looks can translate into home goods with a little travel flair.
Summer is a season when consumers want to take advantage of outdoor spaces and spells of relaxation. Cross-industry collaborations can boost launches or reintroductions of warm-weather goods, as in a partnership between Pantone and Nespresso expressed in a cold-brew coffee maker sporting colors concocted with the season in mind.
In times like these, when consumers are concerned about their finances, low-key luxury can be very appealing to the budget-conscious, and Gagnon pointed to Anthropologie’s deal with The Met in New York, which produced an elegant but inexpensive cocktail shaker.
