Protecting its assets
The brand portfolio and registered patents are evidence of the Group’s wealth of intellectual property.
Supporting growth
The “Intellectual Property – Brands” department interacts with the Group’s operational and functional Divisions throughout the product lifecycle: prior to launch to safeguard L’Oréal’s intellectual property and ensure there is no infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, and post-launch to ensure that the Group’s brands are not copied. All this strengthens L’Oréal’s competitiveness.
Supporting the brands
The teams work closely with marketing and the countries on the various components of a brand’s identity. This might involve protecting a signature (Lancôme), a product line (Fructis), the name of a product (Colossal) or ingredient (Aminexil), a slogan (“Because I’m worth it”), the form of a product (Viktor&Rolf Bonbon bottle), a logo (K Kiehl’s) or even a colour.
All these elements make up the brands’ DNA. Safeguarding their integrity and making sure they are used appropriately is the shared responsibility of the brands, the countries and the legal department.
Supporting innovation
L’Oréal registered 498 patents in 2017. A symbol of the Group’s scientific excellence, patents are designed to protect technological innovations. Here again, the legal department works closely with the Research & Innovation, Operations and Marketing teams. In 2017, for example, this approach resulted in the launch of Lancôme’s Génifique Advanced Sensitive Dual Concentrate, an iconic innovation with patents registered until 2030.
