Leaders League: What does your role consist of?

Cecília Araripe Visconti: I am a contract senior legal counsel at SKY Brasil and coordinate the intellectual property portfolio of Vrio Corp. and its affiliates. From a Brazil perspective, my role consists of monitoring, drafting and reviewing the contracts and IP portfolios of the group’s Brazilian companies, in addition to advising on matters related to these areas. From a Latin American perspective, I am responsible for the coordination of the Latam intellectual property portfolio of Vrio group.

What were the main challenges for your division after the sale of Vrio Corp. to the Werthein Group?

The main challenges for our area were to restructure the intellectual property legal team in the right way and review the new group’s entire portfolio. From a personal point of view, it was a challenge to start coordinating law firms in very different countries across Latin America as well as to be able to study and implement the most effective IP systems, in order to meet each of our companies’ needs. 

What role do technology and innovation play in the efficiency of the IP and contracts area within your company?

As someone who has recently been part of the process of restructuring an IP department practically from scratch, I can say with strong conviction that technology helps a lot in any area of a modern company. The implementation of trademark search and asset management systems has been fundamental to the organization of the IP team, as they are vital for delivering better results to our internal customers and speeding up the processes and analyses that today’s market demands. The same applies to contracts and other areas: technology has come to add value to any job position, providing agility while maintaining quality.  

For many professionals outside Latin America, the protection of intellectual property rights in this region appears extremely complex and inconsistent

What do you think are the biggest challenges in the intellectual property field in Latin America?

For many professionals outside Latin America, the protection of intellectual property rights in this region appears extremely complex and inconsistent, due to different legislations and regulations in each country. This negative image is aggravated by contradictory decisions and excessive time for analysis of cases by the various trademark and patent offices and courts.

In addition, although IP rights are protected by laws and international treaties in Latin America, we also face challenges in effectively enforcing these laws, due to lack of resources, knowledge and the necessary technology. One of the main areas of concern is intellectual property theft, which negatively impacts our economies and the ability of creators to profit financially from their work.

Perhaps it’s being simplistic regarding such comprehensive theme, but I would say Latin American countries need to promote education, research and an innovation culture at its IP institutes, to reverse the impression described above.

What do you value most when working with external counsel?

When choosing an external lawyer, I look for the right skills and expertise. Lawyers we work with must have a high degree of legal knowledge, experience and understanding of the industry in which our company operates.

Furthermore, for me, and external lawyer’s soft skills are as important as their hard skills and, just as you would expect of an in-house lawyer, external advisors must display integrity, teamwork, agility, critical thinking, creativity, adaptability and be effective communicators.

The external lawyer who seeks not only to point out the applicable law and the risks to their client, but also to collaborate on solutions, really stands out in the market.