The Definitive Guide to the Luxury Law Summit: Topics and Takeaways

An Overview of the Luxury Law Summit

The Luxury Law Summit will be hosted in Paris this week. The Luxury Law Summit is not some expensive, ego-booster of an event that attempts to stroke the egos of lawyers. This is a "real" conference with "real" speakers and attendees, all of whom are leading lawyers for major luxury brands. The audience is made up of only those involved on the legal side of the luxury brand business. We’re not talking only of lawyers, but also IP professionals, e-commerce, C-Suite, corporate development, luxury brand executives responsible for intellectual property, branding and trade marks. There is no other conference like it that is focused on the luxury market and its challenges.
The Luxury Law Summit started in 2005 in London with less than 100 attendees. The London event continues to be held every year. In 2006 we first branched out to Paris, which remains our biggest and most prestigious event. In 2011 we started the New York Summit and the cumulative effect of all three events has been phenomenal. The audience for all three events , and indeed the marketing materials and press coverage, has come together in a way that has created a global presence for the Luxury Law brand.
These events have developed and improved over the years. Initially we picked the brains of some of the leading luxury lawyers who wanted to speak at the event. Gradually we came up with structured themes and topics that, in the past five years have included subjects such as e-commerce, social media, sports law, sponsorship, celebrity, counterfeiting, the role of the chief executive, and much more. Each year we have published a special guide, providing a summary of our findings and conclusions of the event, and both in print and online.
Sadly it is almost impossible to speak to all of our speakers at the event, or to all of our attendees. But the interaction and feedback is what makes this Summit a "must attend" in the legal sector focused on the luxury brand market.

Major Issues Addressed at the Luxury Law Summit

The Luxury Law Summit has consistently been a platform for senior in-house and private practice lawyers to network and address the latest issues affecting the luxury industry. The latest summit in London (24 September 2018) saw several key themes emerging. Intellectual property continues to dominate, with over-protective regulation of digital markets focusing on piracy, counterfeiting and trade secrecy no longer enabling companies to expand into new markets. Privacy and data protection, including the EU GPDR, are also not going away anytime soon. As a result, many luxury brand companies are now being forced to take a good hard look at the data they actually hold about consumers and how it is processed as well as which third-party intermediaries they have engaged. Concerns about growing competition in the luxury industry are fuelling plenty of discussion. The innovations taking place to attract younger, tech-savvy customers are diverse. With mega deals on the rise, from LVMH’s Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton acquiring Christian Dior to Richemont acquiring Yoox Net-a-Porter, we are set to see a transformation in the sectors targeting and appealing to millennials. M&A continues to be of interest, with a consensus that high-end fashion deals are expected to rise (albeit, modestly) in the near future. More collaboration between manufacturers and developers is anticipated. Blockchain, artificial intelligence, 3D printing and augmented reality are also being explored more creatively within the luxury industry. Although the legal frameworks surrounding these technologies are still evolving, it is clear that they are on luxury businesses’ radars. Niche brands continue to emerge, appealing to more specific consumers, and partnerships between brands are an ongoing theme, very much in play, each bringing something distinctive to the table that the other lacks. Indeed, all collaboration is increasing, with companies such as Moncler and Pharrell Williams, Hublot and Usain Bolt and Ralph Lauren with The Prince’s Trust, to name a few. With the Brexit deadline approaching, UK lawyers attending the summit were also discussing what steps their clients should be taking now, particularly in terms of protecting what they have.

Prominent Speakers and Presentations

The Luxury Law Summit attracted a wide range of high-profile speakers and session leaders, each bringing their unique perspectives and experiences from their respective fields to the event. Among the notable speakers was Lawrence Gibson, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at Louis Vuitton. Gibson’s expertise in IP law offered attendees deep insights into the challenges and opportunities the luxury sector faces in protecting its brand equity. His session delved into the fine balance between accessibility and exclusivity for luxury brands, which are often the targets of counterfeit and intellectual property theft. In the area of fashion, Jane Reeve, a partner at Penningtons Manches LLP, brought her expertise in IP compliance and strategy for UK and international brands. Her firm’s longstanding relationship with some of the biggest brand names in the world provided a unique window into the importance of comprehensive IP strategies that anticipate future infringements rather than react to past ones. The technology sector was well represented at the summit, where Forrester Research Principal Analyst, Sharyn Leaver, discussed the Revolution of the Digital Experience and its impact on luxury and retail. In a rapidly evolving technological landscape, Leaver’s perspective on how digital experiences are shifting the way luxury brands communicate and engage with their customers was of particular interest to the audience of decision-makers. Alongside case study presentations from leaders of renowned brands such as Rolex and Burberry, the discussions explored how convergence marketing has emerged as the new frontier for luxury brands, leveraging the plethora of available resources to their full potential by focusing on the creation of luxury experiences rather than just luxury goods. At the intersection of luxury and technology, the panel discussion on the subject provided a perspective about how emerging technologies stand to impact the luxury industry and the legal and ethical considerations they invoke. The presenters examined the legalities of data use and disclosure, including what should be disclosed and to whom. The session also covered the emerging trend of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the luxury sector, and how it stands to impact the customer experience in a number of ways. Created in 2014, the Luxury Law Summit is an annual one-day executive event which also forms part of the Luxury Law Alliance’s professional network and was designed to develop legal knowledge and interdisciplinary relationships that benefit both the client and the provider.

Networking at the Luxury Law Summit

The Luxury Law Summit presents a unique networking opportunity for leaders in both the legal and lifestyle luxury industries. Attended by some of the most influential minds in the field, the summit fosters an open environment for collaboration and conversation among luxury brand executives, senior counsel, and industry experts.
As a legal executive, the summit helps to connect you with your fellow colleagues by providing insight into the latest policies and practices that are reshaping the luxury industry. Gain fresh insight into the founders, entrepreneurs, and executives driving growth within the market. In this way, the summit puts you face-to-face with the competition, paving the way for collaboration.
The Luxury Law Summit also attracts an exclusive selection of thought leaders, from those on the executive level to government authorities, academics, and more. From academics to strategists and investors, attend the Luxury Law Summit to gain insight from those responsible for reshaping the industry landscape.
Lead the Way in Trendsetting Discussions
After a productive day of keynotes and panel talks, treat yourself to an evening of networking at the Luxury Law Summit. The summit provides drinks and hors d’oeuvres, giving industry professionals an opportunity to unwind after a long day of speaker presentations. Also, take the opportunity to mingle with your fellow attendees and to challenge ideas in a comfortable environment.

The Effect on Luxury Law and Business Strategy

A vital component of any significant industry event is the ability to impact specific practices and strategies. The Luxury Law Summit is not exempt from this. New approaches to certain aspects of luxury law have already begun to emerge as a direct result of the insights garnered from previous summits.
One such impactful moment came in 2011, on the heels of the Arab Spring revolutions in the Middle East. The world looked to the luxury industry to see how it would respond to the dramatic changes in the region. James Fayne of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, a speaker at the summit, took the position that luxury law practitioners should focus on providing upfront assistance and protection for companies within the region that have not yet been impacted by the changes.
This is the type of collective foresight that summit attendees have the ability to gather from one another. Another example involves the arrival in China of the new Moncler store and its corresponding expansion into Asia. Anna Nuzhdin of Boies, Schiller, Flexner LLP states that this endeavor was significantly impacted by the insight she gathered at the 2012 summit regarding Chinese luxury retail expansion . She believes that design companies are much more sensitive to the potential for dilution with regard to their logos than they were in prior years. The result is that these companies are becoming more difficult to negotiate with when it comes to entering new markets.
Much discussion was had at the 2012 summit regarding the idea of retail arbitrage—wherein, for example, a consumer would buy a luxury product from a foreign website at full retail price and then sell it on an auction system at a slightly lower price. Capturing this trend and advising companies on how to respond to it has led to a great deal of new practice area formation. For example Berluti is now supposed to be taking action against the individuals involved in the violation of its trademark.
The discussions held at the summit are having a huge impact on the way that those working in luxury law go forward in their careers. New regulations and approaches to every type of luxury good are soon going to arise from these gatherings, and more approaches to this complex field are sure to emerge.

Emerging Directions in Luxury Law

As we look ahead to the future of luxury law, our panel of experts anticipate trends focused on the digital transformation of the luxury industry and the opportunities and challenges posed by rapidly shifting consumer behaviors in an increasingly tech-driven, global marketplace.
We discussed the following key considerations:
Our speakers suggested that multimedia technology will soon offer exciting new ways to design, market and even sell fashions, some of which will be covered by current intellectual property (IP) laws, but other uses present us with a number of challenges. We expect that the protection and enforcement of IP rights will continue to expand with the impact of digital technology on the market. The concepts of protected works and geographical markets are also undergoing change in the digital sphere. For example, when a work is developed in a particular territory, is it only protected in that territory, or in other territories as well? If it is only protected in the territory in which it was developed, the creator may wish to see if he or she can simultaneously apply for protection and enforce his or her rights to the work in other territories. Additionally, if a work is created is in the U.S., then placed on the internet in another country, can the original creator bring a lawsuit in the U.S. for downloading the work from the other country? Speakers also highlighted recent issues regarding legal disputes between (1) luxury fashion companies and search engines over how to remove the availability of knock-off merchandise and (2) tech companies and fashion companies over how to protect luxury brands’ reputations online.

How to Participate in the Next Luxury Law Summit

The next Luxury Law Summit, the first since the one held in London last October, is in New York, and will take place on 12 and 13 September 2017.
Registration for the summit, hosted by LSN Global, will open soon , and updates will be posted on luxurybriefing.com. LSN Global will keep you regularly informed about future summits, so you can plan to make the most of the summit, but also take advantage of the many opportunities it affords to network and collaborate with the luxury community throughout the year.