Science, Nature and Law: Corbion on IP
From the beginning Corbion has always had a special focus on establishing fruitful cooperation’s with trust-worthy partners.
Barbara Veldhuis says: “Corbion needs such partners, as in our role as ingredient supplier we’re always very much depending on the success of our customers further down the chain.
“This last decade Corbion has, and continues to, put much effort in gaining know-how on the application side of our products and in particular the application of our bio-based molecules.”
As more and more parties are entering into this field, it is essential for Corbion to monitor the technical and IP developments in the field and continue to vest in the search for valuable partners. We speak with Barbara about this topic and how her background in chemical engineering, offer her a unique stance in the IP field.
What made you transition from chemical engineering into the field of law?
I actually did not experience this as a transition in that sense; in my roles as patent attorney, legal (contract) counsel and lead of the IP department, both disciplines are required. The first joint venture for Corbion 20 years ago (Corbion was named Purac at the time) first introduced me to the intriguing world of IP. The company provided me, a recent graduate, a unique opportunity in managing and actively participating in the start-up of a completely new plant and process together with that joint venture partner. In working with our partner, I got more insights in the typical IP-related challenges and opportunities that arise when parties are cooperating and are sharing know-how, and how having clear legal arrangements and working protocols can actually contribute in bringing the joint venture to a success. At that time Corbion did not yet have an IP department in place nor an in-house legal counsel. It was in 2002 that both the company and I decided to make a move towards the set-up of an in-house IP department followed by me in 2004 to become a Dutch & European patent attorney.
Moreover, how does your background in the subject enable you to be ahead of your game in the legal sector?
The combination of both technical and legal know-how is pretty unique in the legal sector. However, it is essential for Dutch and European patent attorneys as it is one of the requirements to become a patent attorney. The majority of the legal counsels and even the IP litigators I know do not have an academic or university degree in a technical field, let alone gained any working experience in such a field. The same holds for many IP judges. Both disciplines and my working experience enable me to provide additional value in the work as patent attorney, but also as counsel in negotiating and setting up legal contracts. This is because I can explain to legal and business (on both sides) and challenge the meaning and relevance of most of the technical aspects involved. In my role as Director IP, I am able to participate in the discussion on the company’s strategy and in what direction to steer R&D/innovation. It often is not realised, that patent attorneys can play an important role in competitive intelligence due to insights they gain through their work as patent attorney.
How has the advancement of technology affected the patent field in the Netherlands?
Statistics from the European Patent Office (EPO) indicate the increasing Dutch potential in advancing
technologies and growing patent field; the number of Dutch patents granted via the EPO system grew significantly in 2016 (apparently a new record number and the strongest growth in 10 years). The Netherlands held a fourth position in Europe and a seventh position in the year before in filing patent applications with the EPO. Moreover, the Netherlands is within the top 10 of largest number filing countries of the world and within Europe a second place was achieved by the Netherlands in the number of filings with the EPO when expressed per capita ranking/mio inhabitants. These numbers also indicate the increasing interest of parties to maintain an IP position in the Dutch economic landscape. More and more parties realise that patent rights provide a means to establish a legally-allowed (in view of anti-competition laws) exclusive market position in which the patent holder can forbid other parties to initiate production and commercialisation activities of the patented processes and products or applications. Dutch patent rights may as well be used in preventing parties from using the Netherlands in transporting the patented products from one part of the world to another (also if those patented products are only stored temporarily ‘in between’ transports and do not enter the Dutch market).
How has it affected Corbion?
Corbion has a history of more than 85 years in lactic acid manufacturing and applications, and has maintained a leading market share. Not so many patent positions exist on the conventional manner of lactic acid production and Corbion owns the most essential ones.
Corbion strives to contribute to the transfer to a circular economy by amongst others optimising the lactic acid manufacturing process to avoid byproduct formation, to optimise the energy balance and to reduce the carbon footprint. Corbion further aims to contribute to the circular economy by providing bio-based molecules made by using renewable feedstocks as alternative or to replace fossil-based molecules (e.g. polylactic acid (PLA), bio-based succinic acid and poly-ethylenefuranoate (PEF)).
A circular economy is a must for our world-existence. Luckily many parties see the necessity of this as well and are developing new process and product technologies. This increasing participation is observed in the patent field as well and in the end, serves the original objective of the patent system: to increase and stimulate innovation by publication of patent applications, including the newest technology developments in return to the patent owner of a compensation in the form of a 20-years exclusivity period.
Barbara Veldhuis
Director IP and registered Dutch and European Patent Attorney
Corbion Group Netherlands bv
Arkelsedijk 46 • 4206 AC Gorinchem • P.O. Box 21 • 4200 AA Gorinchem • Netherlands
T +31183 695 822
Barbara has been at the company since 1996. She started in 1996 as process design engineer after having completed her masters in Chemical Engineering at the University of Delft. She became Corbion‘s head of the Intellectual Property (IP) department as Dutch and European Patent Attorney in 2009. She has been involved in the formation and operation of three major joint ventures, various bigger cooperation’s and experienced the typical IP-related challenges that comes with that. She as well gained much experience in contract set up and negotiations in her temporary position as legal counsel. Her focus since 2009 has been to have ‘IP’ being used as an enabling business tool to support the business strategy and direct innovation. Barbara has been recognized as corporate IP star of 2016 and 2017 by Managing IP.
Corbion is the global market leader in lactic acid and lactic acid derivatives, and a leading company in emulsifiers, functional enzyme blends, minerals and vitamins. We develop sustainable solutions to improve the quality of life for people today and generations to come. For over 100 years, we have been uncompromising in our commitment to safety, quality and performance. Drawing on our deep application and product knowledge, we work side-by-side with customers to make our cutting edge technologies work for them. Our solutions help differentiate products in markets such as food, home & personal care, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and bioplastics.
