In Conversation with Mr Safir Anand, Senior Partner, Anand & Anand

Mr Anand, it is an honour to be interviewing you and I’d like to begin by asking you to kindly take us down the memory lane and share with us what inspired you to become a lawyer? Where were the seeds of this illustrious journey sown and how has it been so far? 

Initially, I did not  want to be a lawyer. I was fascinated by the corporate world and the mixed bag it contains. Right from brands, their thought process to finance, marketing, taking decisions at a board level, integrating it within a company, mapping performance and creating returns fascinated me. 

During my college days at Shriram College of Commerce, I even decided that I would work for a company like Hindustan Unilever. Then I unexpectedly lost my father and had a life-changing moment where I started attending office as a student to divert from the loss. It was at this time, I realised how Intellectual Property was so close to what I wanted to do. It had brands, risk mitigation, growth, expansion and extension, marketing to sync brand value and differentiate, finance and working to maximise IP returns, board involvement as intangibles became more valuable than tangibles. 

It also fascinated me that in IP, it did not matter if the creator was a big company or small. Any individual, even if not educated or semi-educated  could dream of an idea and seek guidance. I thus felt all the traits were in place for me to bring a combination of  law, commerce and economics together. Hence I joined law as a course and while pursuing law continued to attend office. I was fascinated to meet clients from all walks of life toying with ideas, brands, products and services.

It is often said that success is easy to achieve but difficult to sustain. What has helped you build and sustain your success over a prolonged period? Did you face any hurdles in the initial years? How did you power through the problems? 

Success is a very challenging and evolving thought. What was successful yesterday meets a new day and may not have success immediately. In our field, it does not matter if you do well for some matters and not others as each client wants the best. There is nothing like a cricket batting average to show. Similarly, you cannot delay a matter of one client and claim you did well in others at the same time. The client has a reason to come to you and you have to live up to the expectation. Hence I like to place myself not only as an advisor but as a custodian whose job is not only to find solutions but make the solutions timely and business-friendly. And that is the biggest challenge. Each business is unique and you have to live up to multiple things.  To cope up to my best, I try to be a student every day of life and keep reading diverse stuff as also being more at touch with business transformation and legal updates. 

Often I hear new lawyers in interviews say we left  our  job as we felt things were stagnating and we needed growth. I find this amusing and ask what did you do to upgrade yourself. Usually, there is no answer. Growth is in knowledge. Knowledge is in reading and understanding businesses better and then combining your thoughts to help businesses with your best capabilities. 

I tell myself each day I must get better. Doesn’t always happen but I try. I follow a dashboard for myself every month where I want to get better in solving problems and being regarded as an out of box thinker. I feel right from reading multiple newspapers to books on a variety of subjects and having an optimistic approach in life is a good regime. Plus I am hungry and I feel hunger to excel can never be a fixed mark. Success lies in hunger and passion. We must learn from the experience of others as also from science, commerce and arts. Behavioural science is my favourite subject after IP. We must have a mind of our own and more than anything aligned to a client’s cause. Each client is different and one size can’t fit all. You also must be possessive. I want my client to do well. Period. I step in the same shoes and treat the matter as my own, not as one of many. In my initial years, I lacked the ability to be an independent thinker. I was more process and less out of the box in my approach. I did not have resources including financial to do what I wanted. Ex study more, buy books, travel. I also did not have a father I could meet in the evening and be guided from. But I had successful seniors and by observing them I learnt. 

You have been an inspirational figure in the legal industry. Who has been your guiding light in your journey and how? Who are the people you have admired and looked up to? 

Life is the best teacher provided we want to learn. Each fall is as much learning as each rise. Every day is a teacher. 

Clients experiences taught me. Nothing beats experience. I had a diversity of representations and hence learnt well. I always took notes and still remember all my clients and the issues that surfaced. is

Reading. Earlier I used to only read case law. That was a huge mistake. I became a reader of books on many subjects later- a huge plus. Books are man’s best friend. 

Travel especially business travel alone, when you know it’s all on you to make or break. It sharpens you and leaves no room for guesses. When you meet people in diff places you learn a lot. Everyone has special features and you must imbibe what best you can but also avoid and disconnect where you must. 

Passion to do better and find solutions. If I know I am in the right direction, I am happy to put endless hours to get it right. It never mattered what time it was if I enjoyed problem-solving. There is a sense of gratitude when a client smiles. Clients have appreciated my work and it matters a lot in life when you sense an appreciation from someone you depend upon for work. 

My firm’s culture. Some of the seniors have been a great guiding light. I learnt from Mr Pravin Anand who works endlessly and is a very ' point by point' fact-driven thinker. He makes notes and then thinks out of them towards the best solutions. I am also grateful to Justice Pratibha who at that time used to be in our office and was kind to teach me while I sat for my legal exams.  My immediate family particularly Rohini Anand who respected my long hours of work and encouraged me to work harder when I was no one and earned only INR 1500-3000. Edward De Bono, the Master of lateral thinking. Samir Arora and Sanjoy Bhattacharya who played mentors in an experience beyond the law.

What in your opinion has been the biggest change or challenge IPR law firms are currently grappling with? 

The primary challenge that IPR firms face is that many clients resort to legal advice only when they are in trouble. Today legal advice needs to be sought while laying the foundations of any business. I believe that clients  need  solutions that are multidimensional since they have a range of aspects to consider – from finance, marketing, and deadlines to risk, reward and cultural and corporate issues. In the present day, when even the biggest of companies are facing limited lifespan of 15 years as leaders and  are subject to business model changes, addressing issues of structure, corporate governance, ethics, as well as providing tools that maximise returns on investment in legal services has become essential. 

Incorporating “intangible thinking” into your business development process early is important for businesses. Many businesses are often unaware of the uni-dimensional potential of their IP and the power locked in intangibles, complementing the nature of their business. We thought of the scenario as a chemical equation where a good strategy would act as a catalyst to proliferate growth to create clouds of value, unique value proposition, new business prospects that are unconventional and uniquely place the clients as a market leader.

What does an ideal law firm in the near future look like according to you? 

I think today law firms need to build robust associations with clients by adopting a multifaceted role.  There is a need for transforming the role of a lawyer to a business strategist, an IP portfolio manager, a watchdog, an embracer of technology and an enhancer of value. I believe that every matter right from pleadings to arguments, to searches, to agreements will have huge interconnectivity with valuation, corporate governance, ethics, good practices, flexibility and endurance and in between a lawyer will have to juggle between aggression, defence and mediation to offer his client a peaceful sleep. There is a need to educate clients on the scope of work of a new age lawyer which go beyond the traditional set parameters of just legal expertise to create an eco-system that facilitates creativity and innovation that helps each one of us to think out of the box and work towards expanding our horizons. It is in this process, we challenge our existing abilities and pave way for new learnings for ourselves and the industry as a whole. 

Lawyers need to be far savvier about business and must be more creative in terms of the variety of options and their feasibility. To this effect, it becomes necessary for Law firms not only to keep up with case laws but to be educated with newer technologies, the risk to reward ratio, risk mitigation and other strategic measures that may enhance the scope of success or mitigate the probability of a loss or risk at best. 

There is also the need to move towards digitalization which is now the present and future. There has been a massive influx of technology into the legal system. From the digitization of records at the tribunals and courts to e-hearings and online documentation and e-receipts, a lot of IP has moved online. The entire process of uploading documents is now digital, which basically empowers better compliance with deadlines and ensures comfort in knowing all that was to be pleaded is on record. This digital shift has also brought a far bigger level of transparency within the process as the documents when uploaded, are accessible to the other side. This has also boosted diligence and search processes, as much information is now accessible to deliberate on conflicts, extent, claims and defences. 

How have client expectations changed amid the global pandemic? How has been your experience with regards to virtual client servicing? 

First of all, one has to have an understanding of the business priority, budgets and yet be aligned to optimized solutions. I am happy to share during the pandemic, I made myself available to clients at all hours on all days. Our firm embraced a training for Work from Home even before the closure including digitisation of files, bandwidth checks and working cultures. In fact, we told our team to ensure before time replies as clients were under the strain of several business disruptions. At a personal level, I read a lot. And tried harder to bring more strategy in advise.   

Would you please share with us the challenges faced in online brand protection? 

The online world has more opportunities than challenges. However, brands will need to deal with counterfeit, look-alikes. They will need to ensure that the brand story stays alive on a rather congested digital space. They will be exposed to competition more than ever. Social media influence will play a good role as more and more brands will be subject to crowd behaviour that will be persuasive even without the crowd always being a consumer.  Globalization that will enable more e-branding. The effect of stronger brand influence by platforms where the brands are hosted. Some of these will influence favourably or otherwise brand identity, brand stories, goodwill, reputation, monetization, collaborations, brand enforcement and dilution. 

Which has been your most memorable case so far? What peculiarities did it bring? 

In my practice career, there have been several phases. In phase 1 there was a large number of times we had to convince the Trade Marks Office on distinctiveness and since many of the marks involve foreign marks which were not doing business in India or well recognized to draw analogies from case laws. Unfortunately, the precedents of reported case laws on distinctiveness were very scars and consequently, a lot of innovative thinking went in several matters. This made us as a firm to be the first to protect the colour mark, sound mark (Yahoo), to have the first declaration of the well- known trademark for FORD and the shape mark (Zippo). Further in one of the cases, we had to argue with the success that reputation and goodwill in a mark can also be considered post the date of filing of the applications as distinctiveness is not static but dynamic. Similarly to get the first .com registration the Trade Marks Office had to be convinced of the difference between a trademark and a domain name since they construed the .com part to nullify a trademark claim. In one of the matters handled by the firm, we had to undertake the training of the Trade Marks Office in Chennai to explain the concept of character merchandising and to showcase through video presentation how fictitious characters were highly distinctive. Recently, we succeeded in getting the image of the famous Taj Hotel protected as a trademark and all of these have been important matters before the Trade Marks Office. In reference to contentious matters, some of the important cases involved have been centric around trans-border reputation and goodwill or around extracting the element of dishonesty in adoption by some parties where they had argued that the opponents did not have any business interest in India and thus there was no possibility of confusion or deception. On the transactional side, the first case of mortgage of Intellectual Property and explaining intangible valuation in Red Herrings filed before the Security Exchange Board of India in one of the largest IPO offerings of one of the largest leading IT Company to come to mind. I also enjoyed working with fashion to take fashion law to a level where our firm was recently rewarded as the leading practice in the field in the world. To start practice around returns on legal expenses (R.O.L.E) and return on advertising. Finally to be at the forefront of strategy in monetization and scaling up of intangibles. My recent award from Financial Times for being innovative and out of the box was a big thumbs up and I want to lead by example. 

What according to you has been the hallmark of Anand & Anand that has made the firm a leading name consistently over the years? 

The root of the firm’s culture. It is one of the most innovative setups for finding solutions, something that rewards with multiple awards. No client is small and every problem needs a solution. We have a huge set up of diverse skills. Litigation, Patents, Trademarks, Copyright, Design, Advertising law, fashion law, corporate, monetisation, branding. The firm prides on its reputation and has the highest client retention rate in the late ’90s. A client is above all. We have one of the highest cumulative years of experience as we as a firm are now close to 100 years. We embrace technology ahead of most. We have actual equity given to reward performers not equity only in profits. We have a phenomenal paralegal pool with experiences of multiple years. I personally do not tolerate any team member being mediocre as we are client’s representatives and should never forget the trust and faith put on us. There is a lot of emphasis on learning and adapting. Wanting to read ahead and learn about businesses ahead.

At the inaugural BW Legal World Legal Submit, you spoke on the Importance of Intellectual Property Laws in the Age of Digitisation. How do you see IP law evolving with the emergence of AI, automation and tactile communication? 

IP is today akin to a platform. It is an enabler. With digitisation, it is a tool for keeping your edge. IP is undergoing a huge change. Business models, big data, collaborations, social networking,  AI skills to customise offerings and advertising are giving some businesses a lead while others are grappling with traditional methods which sadly so are being challenged more than anything. Legal minds on IP no longer protect. They anticipate. Mitigate risks in a globalised and well-disseminated facts world. They strategize for next growth and use big data to their advantage. They map a coherence between advertising, branding, legal, financial, marketing, governance, risk mitigation, the cost to returns with all these tools.   

Do you still find time for following any creative pursuits or hobbies? Would you please recommend any book/movie that left a profound impression on your mind? 

For me, creativity is a way of life. I think I try and find creativity in everything I do, whether its exploring and curating music or reading on a diverse range of subjects or even discovering new ideas and concepts, for me just doing something new helps me unwind. I really enjoy travelling and going to different places, learning things about the culture, the people, language and way of life. I love music and theatre. I even composed a song during the lockdown with Nikhil Sahni (DJ NYK) titled Calm the World which has since debuted and ranked in top rankings on several platforms.  I love reading.  Few recent books I would recommend to everyone are 

Blitzscaling- the lightning-fast path to building massively valuable companies; 

The business of platforms- Michael Cusumano, Ynnabelle and David Yoffie; 

The future is faster than you think- Diamondis and Kotler 

Radical uncertainty- John Kay. 

What will be your one message to young and aspiring lawyers looking to build a thriving career in the field of IPR? What are the qualities would you like to see in them? 

Young and aspiring lawyers should have a drive for excellence and a passion to be highly adaptive to the new world that is driven by exponential advancement of technology. They must be keen learners and ever-ready to innovate and transform their legal practice and client service delivery methods. They must keep pushing the envelope to provide wholesome, end-to-end solutions to businesses by not only advising and acting for them but going the extra mile and strategizing for their brands and enhancing their value, thus harnessing the full potential of their intellectual property. 

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