Managers under the spotlight - Paul Cosmovici, Cosmovici Intellectual Property

Paul is the founder and Managing Partner of Cosmovici Intellectual Property (2009) and has more than 18 years of professional experience in the intellectual property field. He is a member of the Geneva, New York, Frankfurt and Bucharest Bars and besides IP law, he has know-how in both banking and corporate law, including court experience, enabling him to provide top-notch expertise on IP strategy, portfolio management including trademarks, patents, copyrights, for both corporations and start-ups. In the past years Paul has worked with many companies operating the pharma, FMCG, software inasmuch as investment funds.

As part of the CCE-R initiative meant to bring member managers under the spotlight, we had the opportunity to address Paul few questions from both human and professional perspectives. Enjoy the interview down below!

1. What does a working day look like for you?

A regular working day means a constant challenge, from family to job. I start my day at 5 am and I finish at night or whenever my children allow it to happen. Usually, professionally speaking, this means half of my time is spent on communicating with my colleagues from the Bucharest office, and the other half is spent on business development activities and client calls and meetings.

2. How is Paul Cosmovici outside the office?

Outside the office, Paul Cosmovici is still the same Paul Cosmovici, but with different opportunities to meet people and interact with more companies, inasmuch as learn from all of my interactions. Besides that, operating in a business that entails business at each step, be it through trademarks, copyrights, patents and so on, I have the chance to meet new clients and built relationships with wonderful people from all over the world, whilst remaining my true self.

3. Tell us about one important project you’re working on this year.

This year we worked and almost finished a deal for a key European pharma player, German-owned, with a large US retail company on the level of Target, Giant and the like. The project is still confidential, but it is indeed one of the largest and most difficult negotiation files we are dealing with at the moment.

4. What was one big innovation your industry has benefited from over the last few years?

In terms of innovation, I could definitely tell that in the past few years, there was a boom in the development of specialized software for the intellectual property practice, like the ones that provide assistance in the trademark searches for new registrations, which enables us to quickly identify the risks of registering a new mark in each country.

A bit on the slow side, but there is certainly improvement and continuous work done in the area of combating online counterfeiting, with software tools that help us monitor and track what new products appear on websites including large-scale sales platforms, identifying what products are being counterfeited or appear to be counterfeited and sold to the general public. These are two key innovations.

Now, thirdly, we have the issue of open data and a great deal of information available that help us draw up statistics, reports and market research according to which we can assess what are the chances of certain products to enter certain markets and whether they will infringe on relevant regulations. Besides that, AI tools are on the rise and in general the premises are looking rather bright for our industry.  

5. What’s one great challenge the industry you’re operating in is currently facing?

Perhaps, the greatest challenge is posed by the unfortunate events that are unfolding in Ukraine, that we are all very much aware of and that are o source of great sorrow.

Another great challenge is the fast growing presence of AI software tools that basically take over the tasks of a lawyer. Then, there is the rising trend of the relocating or outsourcing IP services to countries like China, India and other countries from the region, where the services are extremely cheap, with larger teams operating. What is interesting is that even traditional and on the more conservative side law firms have joined the bandwagon, as it is much more convenient financial wise to have a lot more employees, paid less that do the same work for the clients. This, in turn, means that the lawyers` fees are considerably reduced and is translated into a fiercer competition for client retention.

6. What’s your current hobby?

I particularly enjoy hiking and taking trips to the mountain side, going fishing with my children – the ones that are passionate about this – and very much play tennis with one of children that is 10 and absolutely loves tennis.

7. What’s your favourite book? /or Who is your favourite author?

I think the answer will always be the Bible. It is the book I keep close by and that has helped me deal with difficult situations. My favourite author is Aristotle, he is an amazing resource of knowledge and teachings for me, but I am very much fond of others on the contemporary side.

8. What piece of advice would you give to a newly appointed CEO / young entrepreneur?

First of all, make sure you put together a strong team. A new CEO must ensure that he/she has the right team and that has the support of the team, even if that means taking some time to “sift” through the team and figure out who brings or does not bring added values to the company and ensure that there are no dysfunctionalities within the team. In that sense, the team must be cohesive from all standpoints. Secondly, and perhaps as important as having a great team, is client interaction, meaning visiting them, having calls and meetings that keeps them close. Thirdly, do not make short term plans! It is the key to have long-term plans and try to see the big picture, this is a piece of advice that I have also received many times and a lesson I have very well learnt from the Swiss.