Mr. Etienne Sanz de Acedo

On July 17, Etienne Sanz de Acedo, CEO of the International Trademark Association (INTA), held his first collective meeting with nearly 20 leading Chinese media outlets in Beijing. This historic exchange not only demonstrated INTA's strong commitment to the Chinese market but also marked the beginning of a new chapter in its collaboration with Chinese media. Together, they explored the future development and trends of global intellectual property.

During the media exchange, Intellectual Property Observers(China IP) engaged in a discussion with Etienne about the association's 2026-2029 strategic plan. Here's a transcript of the conversation.

Intellectual Property Observers(China IP) : Hello Etienne，I am Jane from Intellectual Property Observers(China IP). My question is the 2026~2029 strategic plan expands INTA，terminology from brands to intellectual property with clear coverage of nontraditional trademark fields，such as copyrights and trade secrets. Does this positioning or adjustment suggests that INTA will reduce resource allocation priority to trademark protection? Thank you.

Mr. Etienne Sanz de Acedo: Very good observation. In fact，if we go even back by name were international trademark association. And in the past and if you look at the Strategic Plan of，let's say，8 or 12 years ago，it was all about trademarks. Now we did a conscious transition from trademarks to brands to precisely embrace the change within companies to talk about the commercial side of IP and over the years，we've performed a global expansion，but also substantive expansion where we've been covering trademarks，designs，copyrights，data privacy，right of publicity，trade secrets more or less recently.

And as now we're looking into IP in a more holistic way，that means that we will be covering as well and we will be looking into patents.

Now I always say that our landing into patents is gonna be soft and steady，which means we want to take the time to reflect well on what should be our role. In the patent ecosphere，we want to start by educating our own members by raising awareness. But from there，we'll continue developing our activities.

Now the second part of your question will that reduce the allocation to trademark issues? Not at all. I think what INTA has proven over the years is that we have the capacity of continue expanding. That's thanks to our members. We should not forget that we're a global trade association，we're a global not-for-profit organization，but we're members organization and that means that our members as volunteers contribute to the work of the organization. Thanks to them. We can do as much as we do.