50 most influential people in IP 2022: MIP recognises Daniel Zohny at FIFA
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50 most influential people in IP 2022: MIP recognises Daniel Zohny at FIFA

Daniel Zohny is head of IP at FIFA in Switzerland

Daniel Zohny.jpg
Daniel Zohny, head of IP, FIFA, Switzerland

By the time you read this, the FIFA World Cup in Qatar will be well underway.

The tournament synonymous (for northern hemisphere dwellers) with long summer evenings and an extended football season is taking place in winter for the first time ever.

Behind the scenes, there is the mammoth task of keeping track of and protecting FIFA’s intellectual property – and Daniel Zohny is the man in charge of that task.

In the years leading up to 2022, Zohny’s department liaised with the Qatari government on the so-called World Cup laws.

Laws number 10 and 11 in that legislation were enacted in July 2020, putting into effect several IP-related commitments Qatar made when it agreed to host the tournament, including expedited examination and registration of FIFA trademarks.

Law number 11 formally prohibits unauthorised parties from giving the impression they’re endorsed by or associated with the World Cup.

On the enforcement side, Switzerland-based Zohny told Managing IP last year, most infringement so far has been caused by a lack of awareness and solved with a phone call or cease-and-desist letter.

“Where we can, we avoid formal proceedings. In our experience, a friendly approach is more successful,” he said.

The preparation is done. Let’s hope for a friendly World Cup too.

Profiles for the 50 most influential people in IP 2022
View profiles

The list is in five categories, which you can navigate by selecting the appropriate section below.

19 Industry leaders
10 Public officials
9 IP authorities
7 Judges
5 Notable individuals
 
Kasim Alfalahi is CEO at Avanci in the US
Shannon Thyme Klinger is chief legal officer at Moderna in the US
Jim Sullivan is a director at Shazam Productions in the UK
Audrey Lee is general counsel at Starz Entertainment in the US
Joyce Ang is senior vice president for IPR protection at Lazada in Singapore
Craig Wright is a computer scientist in Australia
Jack Randles is head of legal at Manolo Blahnik in the UK
Scott Frank is CEO of IP at AT&T in the US
Mattia Fogliacco is president of Sisvel International in Luxembourg
René Claude Metomo is the president of the Association of Penja Pepper Producers in Cameroon
Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen are founders at Andreessen Horowitz in the US
Juliette Rouilloux-Sicre is vice president of legal and intellectual property at Thales in France
Niall Trainor is senior director of brand protection at eOne in the UK
Nader Pazirandeh is president at Unicolors in the US
Stephen Wurth and John Scott are legal counsel at Qualcomm in the US
Beat Weibel is chief IP counsel at Siemens in Germany
Robert Devonshire is a partner at MML Capital in the UK
Clemens Heusch is global head of dispute resolution at Nokia in Germany
 
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the director general of the World Trade Organization in Switzerland
The investigation lead at the Spanish National Police asked to remain anonymous
Jacob Rees-Mogg is the former secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy in the UK
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the former president of the United Arab Emirates
Patrick Leahy is a senator for Vermont at the US Congress
Edwin Tong is the second minister for law in the Singapore government
Thom Tillis is a senator for North Carolina at the US Congress
Kerstin Jorna is director general of DG Grow at the European Commission in Belgium
Vladimir Putin is president of Russia
 
Alexander Ramsay is former chair of the UPC Administrative Committee in Sweden
Insil Lee is the commissioner at KIPO in South Korea
Christian Archambeau is executive director at the EUIPO in Spain
Shira Perlmutter is register of copyrights at the US Copyright Office
Shen Changyu is the commissioner of the CNIPA in China
António Campinos is president of the EPO in Germany
Konstantinos Georgaras is CEO of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office
Kathi Vidal is the director of the USPTO and under secretary of commerce for IP in the US government
Tim Moss is former CEO of the UKIPO
 
Wang Jiangqiao is a judge at the Hangzhou Internet Court in China
Klaus Grabinski is president of the UPC Court of Appeal in Germany
Len Stark is a judge at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the US
Orlando Garcia is the chief judge at the District Court for the Western District of Texas in the US
Colm Connolly is the chief judge at the District Court for the District of Delaware in the US
Suzanne Barnett was the interim chief judge at the Copyright Royalty Board in the US
Prathiba Singh is a judge at the Delhi High Court in India
 
Amber Kotrri is the founder of House of Zana in the UK
Taras Kulbaba is a partner at Bukovnik & Kulbaba IP Guardians in Belgium
Ed Sheeran is a pop star in the UK
Ankit Sahni is the owner of the RAGHAV Artificial Intelligence Painting App in India
Lynn Goldsmith is a celebrity photographer in the US
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