IP Management: Trademarks, Industrial Designs, Copyright and Trade Secrets
The role of IPRs is very important to Beauty Gems and this is underscored in the company’s unique IP management strategy, which is facilitated by dedicated IP personnel and divided into two categories: company owned IP and client owned IP. For company owned IP, starting in 1999, the company has filed for protection for its trademarks and industrial designs with the Department of Intellectual Property of Thailand (DIP Thailand). The company also maintains copyright protection for all material related to the development and marketing of its products. This strategy allows the company to emphasize product quality and improvement over price competition, which enhances the company’s corporate image, builds customer loyalty and attracts more investment. Obtaining IPRs also mitigates the threat of copying from competitors and capitalizes on the company’s R&D investment through selling or licensing its IPRs to others.
For client owned IP, Beauty Gems considers safeguarding it an essential part of its business strategy. The company does its best to protect its clients’ designs and trade secrets, which has been a key factor in establishing the strong reputation that it enjoys. Jewelry products depend on craftsmanship and design to sell and the gem and jewelry industry is highly competitive. Beauty Gems understands this, and therefore whenever it is commissioned to create a new product for a client, it will never disclose, directly or indirectly, the designs or any other identifiable information of a client’s new product line until it is launched in the desired market. This strategy has been extremely successful, and throughout its entire history there has never been a case of IP infringement of the designs or names of the products of Beauty Gems’ clients. This has fostered significant client loyalty, with the company enjoying a great deal of repeat business and word of mouth advertising, which allowed it to remain successful even in difficult times, such as the 1997 Thai financial crisis. It has also helped to repair the bad image that existed in the Thai gem and jewelry industry caused by certain unscrupulous traders who prey on customers who have little knowledge of the industry.