Ricardo Almaraz (Grupo Salinas): “Without a solid IP strategy, you simply don’t have control over your brand”

Leaders League: How does Grupo Salinas’ intellectual property strategy line up with its growth, innovation and monetization of intangible assets objectives?  

Ricardo Almaraz: When IP is integrated from the outset, it becomes a value multiplier. In a group such as ours, intellectual property is a cross-cutting asset that underpins the business strategy, not an isolated support function. The alignment is direct: 

- It drives growth by protecting brands, content and developments that enable business models to scale without the risk of copying or appropriation by third parties.

- It fosters innovation by establishing clear rules on ownership and incentivizing internal development and collaboration with third parties.

- It enables monetization by converting intangible assets into sources of income such as licenses, strategic alliances and digital exploitation.  

How has the value of intellectual property assets changed in an environment where content and technology increasingly converge?  

The value of intellectual property has undergone a structural shift. It used to focus on formal registration. Today, it lies in its capacity for dynamic exploitation. In an environment where content, platforms and technology converge, content is reused and distributed in multiple formats, brands become platforms for interaction, technology, thus, becomes the primary enabler of value. That is why IP is measured by its ability to generate revenue, scale audiences and sustain competitive advantages.  

In light of the rise of artificial intelligence and content generation, what challenges do authorship and ownership of rights pose for organizations?

Artificial intelligence presents significant challenges such as ambiguous authorship: it is not always clear who the author is; Corporate ownership: it is essential to contractually ensure that outputs are owned by the company; Legal risks arising from inputs: the use of unlicensed data can lead to infringements and; Regulatory gaps: legislation is still in its infancy. The solution is to establish internal governance, usage controls and robust contracts that protect the company and minimize IP risks.

  When IP is integrated from the outset, it becomes a value multiplier

In your experience, what mistakes do companies in Latin America typically make when managing or protecting their intellectual property?

Rather than isolated mistakes, what we see in the region is a failure to fully integrate intellectual property into business strategy. In many organizations, IP is still perceived as a legal matter, rather than a strategic asset. This leads to the following three significant shortcomings. 

Lack of long-term vision: IP is not built as a portfolio, but rather as a response to immediate needs. This limits its ability to generate sustained value.

Transversal disconnect: Without genuine integration with marketing, technology and product development, opportunities for protection, differentiation and monetization are missed.

Passive asset management: Existing assets are protected, but not actively managed to exploit their value, whether through licensing, territorial expansion or digital models.

Consequently, the challenge is not merely to provide better protection, but to manage intellectual property as a business asset that requires planning, investment and corporate governance.  Organizations that achieve this shift in focus cease to view IP as a cost and begin to use it as a tool for growth and value creation.

What role does intellectual property play in building trust and brand reputation in highly competitive digital environments?

In practice, intellectual property is what gives you real control over your brand in an environment where everything is copied, modified and distributed in a matter of seconds. Today, the main risk is not just copying, but confusion: fake profiles, marketplaces with unauthorized products and campaigns that can dilute or distort the brand’s message. If you do not have a solid IP strategy, you simply do not have effective tools to respond.

Based on our experience at Grupo Elektra, IP fulfils three very specific functions:  It gives you the ability to react immediately to misuse, especially on digital platforms; it regulates the use of the brand internally, preventing inconsistencies from arising even within the organization that ultimately affect consumer perception and; it sustains reputation over time, because it ensures that your communications are consistent, defensible and exclusive. 

Ultimately, trust is not built solely through communication, but through consistency and control. And in today’s digital environment, this can only be achieved when intellectual property is well managed.