World Trademark Review - Edital
World Trademark Review - Edital
World Trademark Review - Edital
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Table 1. What are the top criteria on which you base your decision<br />
when purchasing trademark services?<br />
Price (1506 points)<br />
Customer service and ongoing support (1414 points)<br />
Pre-existing relationship with law firm or company (1089 points)<br />
Software and systems, including integration and (856 points)<br />
compatibility with other systems<br />
Flexibility (761 points)<br />
Level of local knowledge (698 points)<br />
Word of mouth/recommendation (641 points)<br />
Transparency of fee structure (624 points)<br />
Degree of global presence (530 points)<br />
Length of time in the marketplace (448 points)<br />
Extent of liability accepted (327 points)<br />
Respondents were asked to choose only their top five criteria.<br />
To calculate the ranking of importance, each time a criterion was<br />
ranked first it received five points; each time it was r anked second it<br />
received four points; if third it received three points; if fourth it<br />
received two points; and if fifth it r eceived one point.<br />
service providers.<br />
Buyers of trademark services value a close, personal relationship<br />
because they need to feel that their particular needs are being ca tered<br />
to, rather than having them folded into existing systems and<br />
processes.<br />
One survey respondent argues: “Companies don’t seem to give<br />
enough time to understanding the client’s issues. They think they<br />
know it all. But maybe sometimes a client doesn’t only require a<br />
different approach – they may require a radical solution. Perhaps the<br />
client just needs a smaller package of whatever services the provider<br />
is ready to offer. It is time to move with the clients. The age of the<br />
service provider is passing by quickly and they must adapt to the<br />
clientele.”<br />
Of course, where individual solutions are required, rather than<br />
simply a scaling down of the services offered, flexibility can h ave an<br />
impact on cost; in today’s competitive environment, this perhaps<br />
explains why solutions are often sought in existing offerings. But such<br />
an approach can have a deleterious impact on the user experience.<br />
One in-house counsel complains: “Many talk down to me. I’m not<br />
a big law firm and I’m not e ven a big user of services – we’re expected<br />
to conduct most work in-house and very economically, which we do.<br />
So I’m seeking someone who can provide me with the services I need,<br />
not everything they sell. Further, I am actually very knowledgeable<br />
about my profession and very involved in its evolution and<br />
management; the last thing I like is to have a service provider talk to<br />
me like I don’t know anything.”<br />
Developing the know-how<br />
Of course, the one area where service providers do have deeper<br />
knowledge is in the ‘hows and whys’ of their particular systems and<br />
processes – and it is here that help is often most appreciated. One<br />
respondent identified a clear need for experts to “assist people who<br />
are not as technologically adept as them”, while another admitted:<br />
“I’m finding that the technology is now almost too advanced and hard<br />
to keep up with. There are a lot of fea tures available that we just do not<br />
take advantage of.”<br />
In this regard, training both on initial use and after subsequen t<br />
software updates was highly valued (albeit with some complaints<br />
where this generated additional costs). Equally important is user<br />
feedback at the development stage, as any system should be built<br />
according to the needs of the poten tial user.<br />
WTR therefore asked how systems are currently developed<br />
– specifically with regard to the involvement of trademark<br />
professionals and users.<br />
Glen Nath, senior vice president, professional services, CPA Global,<br />
responds: “Once internal testing is complete, a beta version of our<br />
product is released to key clients, who test every area of the product<br />
including all aspects of trademark prosecution. The testing is done by<br />
both attorneys and administrators.”<br />
Stolfi likewise states that Corsearch involves customers in market<br />
research, workflow analysis and platform testing: “Software upgrades<br />
are initially tested by the software development team which conducts<br />
unit tests, shake-out tests and integration tests. This is followed by<br />
quality assurance testing to check for errors across different scenarios<br />
and conditions. Finally, user acceptance testing is conducted by an<br />
internal group of users who are very knowledgeable in the trademark<br />
industry, in order to confirm that the system meets mutually agreedupon<br />
requirements.”<br />
Hölscher adds that SMD Markeur’s searching and monitoring<br />
always pass through several selection steps conducted by different<br />
individuals, and that “monitoring is adapted to the client’s needs<br />
during an initial phase”.<br />
For CSC, according to Wieland, “the majority of our product<br />
improvement ideas come directly from our customers, and we involve<br />
them in design and testing before release”.<br />
While buyers welcome providers’ efforts to minimise costs,<br />
there were concerns that these can backfire when directed at<br />
personnel. A sophisticated understanding of trademark law is<br />
crucial to the supply of strategic advice, and such expertise<br />
inevitably costs more for providers in terms of salaries<br />
www.<strong>World</strong><strong>Trademark</strong><strong>Review</strong>.com December/January 2012 <strong>World</strong> <strong>Trademark</strong> <strong>Review</strong> 29