Brand Dialogue Workshop: The Value of GI Brands and Brexit

Marcus Höpperger is Senior Director of the Department for Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications, Brands and Designs Sector of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The Department is responsible for providing legal and policy advice to WIPO Member States in all questions of trademark, industrial design and geographical indication law, for servicing the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications and for the administration of the Lisbon System of Appellations of Origin.

Since taking up his duties with the World Intellectual Property Organization, he worked in various positions in international industrial property law (including patents, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs and international classifications, as well as the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks, the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs, and the Lisbon Agreement Concerning the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration.  Prior to his current assignment, he was the Director of the Madrid International Trademark Registry.

In his current function, he acts as Secretary to the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications and was in charge of the 2006 Diplomatic Conference adopting the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks and the 2015 Diplomatic Conference adopting the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications

Konrad leads Brand Finance’s place branding and soft power practice. He liaises with clients, directs consulting projects, and is responsible for the creation and promotion of the annual Global Soft Power Index, Nation Brands, and City Index studies.

Konrad has extensive experience in advising clients in the fields of place branding and public diplomacy. Before joining Brand Finance, he worked at the Polish Embassy in London where he developed and delivered successful marketing communications campaigns as well as media relations programmes of official engagements by the president, prime minister, government ministers, and the ambassador.

In his role at Brand Finance, Konrad has advised a variety of place branding organisations, including the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Campaign, New Zealand Story, and Cape Town Tourism.

Before moving on to grow the place branding practice, Konrad was the Communications Director of Brand Finance and Managing Director of Brand Finance’s PR agency – Brand Dialogue for 5 years. He has a proven track record in executing integrated communications strategies, having been responsible for publishing nearly 100 industry and country reports on the world’s most valuable brands on an annual basis.

Konrad has qualified with the Professional PR Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). He studied European Studies MA at King’s College London and the Humboldt University in Berlin, and International Relations with Political Science BA at the University of Birmingham.

Stefano Fanti has been with the Parma Ham Consortium since 1989. He has covered many roles of responsibility as regards marketing, product and corporate communication, diplomatic negotiations for the opening of new markets.

Since 1998 he is the General Manager. In this role, he works together with the President and the Board of Directors to define and carry out strategies, programmes and management policies for the Parma Ham sector, particularly in protecting its designation of origin and the corresponding trademark and enhancing the product in Italy and abroad. Mr. Fanti manages Public Affairs with Authorities, Public and Private Institutions.

He holds numerous other institutional appointments also at the international level as a natural consequence of his deep knowledge and long-term experience of this sector and of Consortium management.

Since 2012 he is deputy-president of Aicig - Association of Italian Consortia for geographical indications (Rome); from 2006 to 2017 he has been a member of OriGIn’s Executive Committee - Organisation for an International Geographical Indications Network (Geneva); from 2004 to 2016 a member of the Quality Consulting Committee of the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission (Brussels); from 1999 to 2015 a member of the Board and the Executive Committee of Parma Alimentare - Association for Parma food products (Parma).

Massimo Vittori is the Managing Director of oriGIn, in charge of the Organization’s strategic planning and overall management.

Massimo previously worked as a legal advisor at the International Trade Center (ITC) – a technical assistance agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations – where he was in charge of several projects in the field of intellectual property, trade law harmonization, model contacts for SMEs and alternative business dispute resolution mechanisms. Massimo also worked at the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on the improvement of developing countries’ investment climate through regulatory reforms.

Following his Bachelor Degree in International Relations, Massimo obtained a Master’s Degree in International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of Geneva and an LL.M. in Intellectual Property at the University of Turin. 

Massimo regularly delivers seminars on GIs, trademarks and trade-related issues in several European Universities.

Lindesay is Deputy Director of Legal Affairs at the Scotch Whisky Association, the trade association of the Scotch Whisky industry. A Scottish solicitor and accredited as a Specialist in Intellectual Property Law, he has worked for the Association since 2001. He leads on its legal work across Asia-Pacific and the Americas: seeking protection for Scotch Whisky as an IP right across the region and managing legal actions against the producers of infringing products. He also has a particular interest in UK Customs’ Verification Scheme for Scotch Whisky. Outside the Association, he sits on the Law Society of Scotland’s Intellectual Property Sub-Committee and the International Trademark Association’s Unfair Competition Committee.

Tim’s background is steeped in marketing with almost 20 years of digital publishing experience in the gaming, gifting and lifestyle sectors.

As COO at Great British Chefs, Tim is in charge of running the business on a day to day basis and works with a wide range of clients including Irish Beef, Norwegian Seafood and Grana Padano and helps them engage Britain’s 13 million foodies.

Great British Chefs, with over 1.5m monthly visits, social following of 1.2m and best selling cookbook, is the fastest growing branded UK food media owner [source:Experian]. Along with www.greatitalianchefs.com, the websites are packed full of sumptuous recipes, videos and editorial, developed in collaboration with circa. 200 award winning chefs such as Marcus Wareing, Tom Aikens, Cristina Bowerman and Norbert Niederkofler

Brand Dialogue is a public relations agency that delivers value-based communications strategies to help create dialogue with key stakeholders to drive brand value. As part of the Brand Finance Plc Group, the team works side by side with Brand Finance and manages communications across all group companies.

Brand Dialogue has more than 25 years experience in delivering public relations and communications campaigns driven by research, measurement and strategic thinking. Our approach is integrated, employing tailored solutions across PR, marketing and social media.

Our collaborative, multi-disciplinary methods, as well as our commitment to achieving results, have helped us establish and sustain strong client relationships. We have worked with companies of all shapes and sizes, across multiple sectors, some of whom have been with us for over 20 years.

Jose studied at Westminster Kingsway College.  After leaving college and doing a stint abroad in Puerto Banus Spain Jose worked as a Chef at the House of Commons (HOC) for over 11 years. Here he worked up through the ranks to become a senior Chef de partie and acting Sous Chef in many of the HOC restaurants. While working at the Commons he also took the opportunity to work stages at some of London top establishments including Le Meridien, Mossimans, The Ritz, the Intercontinental Park Lane and The Savoy.  In 2004 he wrote a training manual on Game for the trainee chefs at the HOC and due to this he was asked to give a lecture back at the college where he started. A year later Jose took up a lecturing post at Westminster Kingsway College one of most highly regarded Catering Colleges in the UK. Since then he has become one of the leading Game Chefs in the UK with knowledge of not only how to cook Game but also about its harvest and preparation.  

Jose has worked with a variety of organisations at the college driving students knowledge on an extensive range of products. He has also helped develop equipment such as Game chillers, smoked salmon fridges and dry meat ageing cabinets which are now used at the college where he with his students make Smoked Salmon, Norwegian fjord Trout, Alaska wild salmon, Ham, Bacon and age all their own meat. He has also worked with Lincolnshire Game on the development of many game products and dishes that have then gone on to be featured on the shelves of Marks and Spencer’s and Waitrose there by growing the game market in the uk.