Retail therapy

Could shops killed off by ‘the death of the high street’ be revived with the adoption of technology and, if so, how can IP protect such brand extensions? Ruth Burstall explores

Ruth Burstall, Baker & McKenzie

The retail sector has been transformed in the last decade bytechnology and the pace of change shows little sign of slowing. There has been much talk of the ‘death of the store’ with the large-scale adoption of online shopping. However, it is likely that within the next 10 years retailers will adopt technology which attracts customers back to the high street. In the future, shops are more likely to be a setting for consumers to enjoy multi-sensory brand experiences engendered by technology. Intellectual property law is frequently accused of lagging behind the times and ill-equipped to cope with advances in technology. However, recent reforms in trademark law suggest that legislators may be thinking how to accommodate these developments and clear the path for the registration of more unusual brand elements. Retailers are likely to use data in combination with technological innovations to optimise customer experience, so understanding how elements of data can be protected is likely to become increasingly important to retailers.