Price wars, Political wars and now wars on patents. Today, with the world’s financial engine gaining momentum once again after the housing bubble, the coming years seem to be tough time for analysts.

Infringement of patents was seen as an integral part of emerging nations until recently when two top notch organizations from the developed nations jumped in the battle field arguing hard on the patent infringements.

In October, the lord of the ‘I’s (Apple) was accused by the King of ‘N’s (Nokia) for 10 patent infringements related to wireless data, speech technology, security and encryption technologies. Nokia, one of the largest player in the handsets market, has spend more than 40 billion Euros in the last two decades on R&D to develop such technologies. Nokia has agreement with more than 40 handset manufacturers world over for the usage of its technologies, however, Apple is an exception.

In early December, Apple counter attacked rival Nokia with 13 patent infringements!

And now Nokia has filed a case in International Trade Commission (ITC) against Apple.

Nokia experienced first quarter loss after a decade whereas Apple touched profits of $1.6 billion, thanks to the growth in sales of iPods and iPhones. Nokia is finding it difficult to digest this and doing all sort of analysis to find the root cause. In the race to satisfy the shareholders both these companies are compromising with their brand values which is built over decades. Who will win this patent war? Apple, Nokia or other competitors

Rogues

Let us conceptualize it:
1.      Make your product identifiable if you believe in your product
2.      Promote the identification mark to inform your customers
3.      Reap the benefits of increasing revenues!

The evolution of traditional branding:
Branding evolved steadily along with the evolution of industries. Tobacco manufacturers used different bags in 1800s with differentiable labels. This was because the flavor of tobacco varied significantly with the change of climate in which it is cultivated. To ensure that the customers got their favorite flavor, the companies branded the products based on the country produced in. Branding got a boost when countries initiated changes in trademark laws in favor of manufacturers. The modern branding started with the introduction of a star on candles produced by Procter & Gamble. Customers almost always asked for this star mark before buying candles. This forced the company to put this mark consistently on all their candles produced. Thus, a brand was born. Further, National biscuits, Heinz and Coca-Cola lead the branding game to astronomical levels. Today Coca-Cola’s brand value is more than $64 billion!

Which products can be branded?
The answer lies in the fact that any thing can be branded and is being branded and will be branded. Chinese silk, Indian Spices, German technology, Arabian horses and other regional products are associated with the country of origin. The bottled water industry is a classical example of branding. Bottles are branded based on the source of water like spring water, mountain water, glacier water, with each relating to different level of perceived purity of water. The air you breathe can also be differentiated like air of Beijing and air of Amazon. By the name people can evaluate the quality of air. Even the services provided by companies like Infosys, Taj Hotels and HSBC bank are used to distinguish certain products. Guess why do companies use brand ambassadors for branding?

Rogues