Heller has been involved in several high-stakes trademark cases for three decades and is currently taking two Fortune 500 companies through a rebranding.
"The significance of this is you're changing a name that is known throughout the world," Heller said.
Trademarks must be protected, and never has this been more challenging than in China, a country that Heller sharply criticized as the poster child for intellectual property infringement.
"They don't respect intellectual property laws," Heller said, adding that someone there will often rush out and trademark a name that was conceived in the U.S.
"Then you have to negotiate to buy it back. It's like ransom," Heller said.
There are many issues to consider when rebranding a company or product, and a rebranding effort's timing is especially critical. "There's so much creativity surrounding when to file," Heller said.
As for why a rebranding is necessary, there can be many reasons. KFC isn't one of her clients but Heller imagines that Kentucky Fried Chicken changed its name because it didn't want "fried" as part of the name when the nation was going through a health craze. Rebrandings of well-known companies are not frequent, though, she said.
"Not that many change, and when they do, it's often something like when Federal Express shortened the words to FedEx," Heller said.
Heller is working on the rebranding of an Alcoa spin-off. "They are coordinating their marketing [with] their branding," Heller said. "We're working closely with their executives on their business plans."
? Thor Biberman
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