During the week of May 20, 2018, members of the Goulston & Storrs Intellectual Property Group joined over 10,500 attendees from around the world for the 140th Annual Meeting of the International Trademark Association (INTA). Held in Seattle, Washington, the INTA 2018 Annual Meeting attracted an incredibly diverse group of brand owners, in-house counsel, outside counsel, government officials, academics and other intellectual property professionals from over 150 countries.

The authors of this blog post took advantage of the opportunity to speak with a wide array of trademark professionals about some of the more pressing issues facing brand owners and the retail industry today. The issues that garnered the most attention were the impact on brand ownership and protection as a result of the prospective British departure from the European Union (commonly known as Brexit), and compliance with the European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which went into effect on May 25, 2018. Additional hot topics for discussion included strategies for combatting cybersquatting, counterfeiting, best practices for trademark licensing, and strategies for protecting product designs through trademark / trade dress, patent and copyright enforcement.

While fish tossing at iconic Pike Place Market and sipping espresso at the original Starbucks® store were wonderful excursions into the colorful world of retail brands in action, one highlight of the trip to Seattle was attending the annual meeting of the Intellectual Property Practice Group of Meritas®, a worldwide network of law firms in which Goulston & Storrs serves as the Boston member. This meeting enabled us to see old friends, make new connections, and engage in lively discussions about best practices and developments in trademark law around the world.

Next year’s INTA 2019 Annual Meeting will take place in Boston, just blocks away from our Boston offices. We look forward to welcoming back our friends and colleagues from around the world to Boston next year for the INTA 2019 Annual Meeting.