Report From The “Luxury Law Summit”

No, the conference wasn’t about the trials and tribulations of the one percent, with their tax and domicile problems. The term “luxury law” refers to the law – primarily IP law – that pertains to the stuff that companies sell to the one percent, and no doubt to many others. These are challenging times for companies that sell luxury goods, thanks to the internet, retail stores, and above all to the “ugly spectre of counterfeiting,” according to one of the participants at last month’s global summit in London, organized by UK-based Global Legal Post. The counterfeiters themselves are a perennial problem, but to some degree a sidelight – a “whack-a-mole” problem, according to one participant. Of more interest are the online platforms, notably China-based Alibaba, which is alleged to shamelessly facilitate it. Particular attention at the conference was paid to the lot of general counsels, who encounter some unique internal issues at luxury companies, including being made a scapegoat, according to one general counsel. She advised her fellows to always remember their function is that of service provider, like a flight attendant. “Bring them food and make sure they don’t choke and die on it,” she advises. With regard to outside counsel, one GC elegantly expressed a familiar complaint: their tendency to provide long email responses that don’t get you anywhere. “If I bring a problem to you,” she says, “I need a solution, not another problem.”