INTA 2024: Event details
Date: 18-22 May, 2024
Venue: Georgia World Congress Center, 285 Andrew Young International Blvd NW, Atlanta
Registrations: Register your attendance on the INTA 2024 website
This year’s Annual Meeting of the International Trademark Association (INTA 2024) looks set to be bigger and busier than ever before. Our team share their advice for making the most of the event’s opportunities for networking and knowledge-sharing, and the hot topics that are on the table for discussion.
With an estimated 10,000+ trademark, brand, and IP professionals due to attend, a ticket to INTA 2024 (18-22 May, 2024) is a must for global trademark, brand and IP professionals looking to exchange IP experiences, knowledge and best practices face-to-face. As usual, Novagraaf will be represented by a team of trademark and brand experts at the 2024 event, including experts in the key disciplines under discussion this year, such as trademark search and watch, online brand protection and cost management strategies for global trademark filing and enforcement. Schedule a meeting with one of our team to find out how we can help you achieve your IP goals.
Key lessons from INTA in Singapore
Last year’s INTA Annual Meeting in Singapore was the first time that many trademark and branding professionals had the opportunity to meet in person after the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. As well as we all adapted to online and remote working, it was clear from the feedback of our trademark and design attorneys that the chance to meet face-to-face was one of the biggest benefits of the event.
Meeting in person offers the opportunity to discuss goals and frustrations in a way that is difficult to replicate through a screen, and several challenges quickly emerged as common ground for most IP professionals at the event, including portfolio management, trademark enforcement and budgetary constraints.
While such trademark management and budgetary challenges are not new, what is different post-COVID is the sheer volume of administrative tasks that IP professionals need to handle. With multiple channels and geographies to oversee, IP leaders shared with us their frustrations at spending too much time managing suppliers (and correspondence, invoices and systems), leaving little time to focus on their core work: protecting their valuable brand rights.
Will you centralise your trademark portfolio in 2024?
Working with a single supplier can ease much of that headache by streamlining information and instructions through a single point of contact. However, IP professionals are justifiably wary of being locked into long-term contracts with suppliers that include services or systems that they do not need. That’s why many of the IP professionals we spoke to at INTA 2023 were interested in Novagraaf’s comprehensive but flexible Global Trademark Portfolio Management solution.
Whether you prefer to retain responsibility for the entire trademark lifecycle in-house, outsource all administrative trademark tasks to third-party suppliers or take a middle 'hybrid' approach, we tailor-make our Global Trademark Portfolio Management solution to provide the strategy, services and tools you need to improve budgeting and forecasting, reduce costs, free-up valuable in-house time and achieve portfolio oversight. Find out more
Many IP professionals we spoke to were looking specifically for support in Europe, which is where our Intra-National Trademark Taskforce came into play. We launched this initiative in 2023 to meet the specific needs of brand owners looking for trademark, domain and design services in all European territories, including those outside the EU (such as Switzerland and the UK). Attendees were also interested in Novagraaf’s inclusion in the Questel group, and what that meant in terms of our services offering and global reach.
Looking forward to INTA 2024
We don’t expect pressure on time and budgets to reduce any time soon, so portfolio management is likely to remain a hot topic at next year’s INTA event. We know IP professionals aren’t willing to compromise service levels for lower costs, however, so efficiencies will need to be sought elsewhere. That’s why, in addition to centralising services with a single supplier, we also expect to see greater use of technology in the coming year, including process automation and artificial intelligence (AI).
--> Read why emerging technology is one of the three changes that is likely to affect IP owners in 2024.
The good news is that many of these technologies are already available for use! Examples include the trademark search and watch platform of our sister company Markify (also part of the Questel group), which uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLMs) to create comprehensive trademark search reports.
Other topics already on the agenda for INTA 2024 include trademark enforcement strategies for China and India, the implications of current communication trends on famous and well-known trademarks and the impact of economic recessions on IP management. We will be looking into these and other topics, as soon as the full programme is released.
Will we see you at INTA 2024?
As INTA 2024 draws closer, we will also continue to share our preparations and practical guidance for making the most of the event. For specific support, please reach out to our team to set up a meeting before or during the 2024 conference.