Limited by the technology of their IP software, Arla Foods decided to upgrade to a browser-based IP management system that could bring their IP practices up to speed. Tove Graulund, chief IP counsel at Arla Foods, explains to Elodie Brice why they selected CPA Global Memotech 2004.
Can a complete IP management system make life in a busy IP department more efficient and trouble-free? The answer is yes, according to international dairy-product producer Arla Foods. They are using CPA Global Memotech 2004 to streamline the company’s IP practices, to cut back on unnecessary paper communications, and to bring its IP software up-to-date with the latest technology.
The success of Arla Foods’ business practice is based on providing a high level of quality and service to its clients, and this extends to the IP department in which chief IP counsel, Tove Graulund, works. Her team currently employs nine IP specialists, seven of who are based in the main office in Copenhagen. They look after the company’s trademarks, design marks, domain names, and all legal IP work on a global scale.
Managing the workload
With a trademark portfolio in excess of 5,000 registrations, the need for an efficient IP management system, which lessens their workload and facilitates inter-departmental communication, was paramount. ‘We were particularly looking to improve the information available to the marketing team,’ explains Tove.
‘They have a high level of interest in the IP landscape – both internal and external – but very little visibility into the Arla IP portfolio and the trademark team itself. Requests on their behalf for trademark and domain searches, as well as queries regarding brand coverage in various markets take a great deal of the trademark team’s time, and can be very labour intensive.
By combining all of Arla Foods’ IP information – trademarks, patents, domain names and contracts – in one central repository of information, authenticated employees are now able to access the company’s IP information, through a common interface, no matter where they are located.
‘Even though our old system proved excellent back in the early days, the fact that its use was limited to our department meant that it soon became outdated in the company as a whole. We needed a system that could work within the entire framework of Arla Foods in order to reduce the time involved in communicating information that, up until that point, could only be accessed by our department.’
Arla Foods found the solution to this problem in CPA Memotech 2004, a browser-based system that unites the company’s IP data into one central database, accessible to all business units. By combining all of Arla Foods’ IP information – trademarks, patents, domain names and contracts – in one central repository of information, authenticated employees are now able to access the company’s IP information, through a common interface, no matter where they are located.
But the advantages aren’t just derived from increased accessibility. CPA Memotech 2004 has also brought benefits for company communication as a whole, as Tove explains: ‘With CPA Memotech 2004 it is possible to e-mail a file link to a colleague or to refer them to important data in the system. This enables us to cut back on unnecessary reporting and communication, and to reduce our use of paper as a whole. It represents a much needed technological advance for our company, and one that we are keen to continue. We are planning to use the system for document management, and a few years down the line, we will be looking for these electronic files to eventually replace our paper files entirely.’
For more information on CPA Memotech 2004, please contact Elodie Brice at ebrice@cpaglobal.com
To find out more about Arla Foods visit www.arlafoods.com
This article first appeared in IP Review, issue 11
