Zacco's designs director on challenging perceptions and keeping promises

Welcome to the latest instalment of Managing IP’s ‘Five minutes with’ series, where we learn more about intellectual property practitioners on a personal and professional level. This time we meet Tomas Wässingbo, partner at Zacco in Denmark.

I work in a firm that protects creations and innovations. People tend to know about trademarks, so it’s a good place to start, but people are not always familiar with designs or patents. I explain that we help people to define their ideas, and to see what might be possible to protect, and that we work with everyone from small, local startups to some of the largest companies in the world.

As the group designs director, my role is to lead and drive the design business within Zacco, and to promote the benefits of incorporating designs, and create a more comprehensive IP portfolio.

My primary focus is to promote designs internally and externally, ensuring that all of our colleagues are up to speed on where and how they can be used, and particularly how they can complement other IP rights and add value to our clients. We have some exceptional colleagues within design, across all countries in which we operate, so my role is to make sure that group direction and strategy are aligned and that we’re working closely together across borders, and that our colleagues get the support and tools they need.

We recognise a huge need for design rights, and many industries either don’t see their relevance or sometimes don’t appreciate just how effective and versatile they can be, so my role is to change that perception. This often involves a lot of interaction with external parties, mostly clients, but we also do a lot of work with potential partners and local authorities, such as patent and trademark offices or industry federations.

For example, we’ve recently hosted a design event in Copenhagen and delivered a podcast on designs with Managing IP and an expert in IP policy in Sweden, both of which proved very popular.

We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from the design event we hosted before the summer, so I am keeping that conversation going with some of the people who attended. I also have a call with the EPO to discuss a client’s patent application, and I am preparing for a meeting with a global manufacturing client. We are also running innovation and patent harvesting sessions for the European arm of a US-based solutions provider, so I am following up on those discussions to explore how we can help them build a culture of IP awareness.

Depends on the day, but usually I’m juggling multiple things around one big piece of work. I’m often multitasking, but I’ll usually try to focus on one thing at a time. Delegating is key when dealing with multinationals, and I’m fortunate to be supported by some great teams across Zacco.

I’m quite curious by nature, and love to find new ways of working. The role is exciting because almost nothing is impossible, it’s often about finding the right team to push an idea forward, whether that's helping a client or coming up with a new service.

The most stressful is when you’re approaching that promised deadline but haven’t been able to get everything aligned. The intention is always to exceed client expectations, but we also have to accept that’s not always possible.

Curiosity, and being humble enough to ask, even if you’re worried it might be a stupid question. Curiosity and humility are key to making sure that you can ask the right questions, get to the heart of what an organisation is trying to achieve and then support them most effectively. The technical skills are a given, but using those skills correctly means advising each client depending on their specific situation, and then not leaving them with unanswered questions. Our clients pay us to advise them on their options, but also to give a recommendation based on what each of those options represent.

Owning a right doesn’t really mean anything if you’re not doing anything with it. It’s up to you how you manage your rights but pure ownership won’t stop someone from infringing it. You need to remain active and ensure that you have processes in place to identify infringements, for example, and be able to act on them, or to make use of the right for other purposes, such as paving the way for new markets, licensing, marketing, investments, etc.

Nature. Spending time in nature, either alone or with friends, lets my mind wander freely and often results in a lot of good ideas. It could be cycling through the fields, or walking through the forest with my labrador, swimming off the Swedish coast, or skiing down a mountainside. Nature often gives me the chance to take a step back and reflect. Sometimes the best ideas emerge from solitude, and other times they are inspired by someone else’s thinking.

Cooking! I always wanted to be a gourmet chef. I love trying out new flavours and, if my family and friends are anything to go by, I make some pretty tasty dishes. Obviously, a chef is nothing without a great team to support them though, that’s what makes it fun.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. Often, the most effective lessons emerge from your mistakes, so don’t worry too much about them.

I try to live according to simple mottos, like the ones my grandparents shared with me when I was a child: “be on time, keep promises, and don’t lie”. Simple perhaps, but they have served me very well so far.