TNF picks up the pace on patents
11/12/2007
Outdoor apparel, footwear and equipment brand The North Face (TNF) has filed more patents during 2007 than it has in the whole of the rest of its history.
In the course of this year, the California-based company has filed 16 new patents. According to Winston Shih, who joined TNF in 2006 to head up a new Advanced Products team, the company had previously only filed “four or five” patents since it was founded in 1966.
Mr Shih said: “We see value in protecting some of our ideas. If our marketing team can say that a new product has patented technology, it definitely adds value when we tell the story.”
But he made it clear that TNF did not want to use patent law as part of an offensive strategy. He said the intention was not to “block other companies”, adding that his company saw great value in being open. “If everyone contributes ideas, it grows the market,” he insisted. But he made it clear that TNF did not want to end up in court, accused of breaching someone else’s copyright.
More patents will help it avoid this kind of scenario. Mr Shih added that he knew it was a path that many companies had already gone down. “Nike has a whole army of people working on this [patents],” he said.
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