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ADIDAS – Powering Innovation Through Strategic IP Management

Business Management
Tags: RightHub

In the highly competitive world of sportswear, innovation is key to staying ahead. This case study explores how ADIDAS strategically leverages intellectual property (IP) to drive innovation, protect valuable assets, and align its IP practices with broader business goals. Through the implementation of the Anaqua AQX® IP platform and a focused approach to cross-functional collaboration, ADIDAS transformed its IP function into a strategic business partner—enhancing operational efficiency, strengthening innovation pipelines, and reinforcing its global market position.

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TESTIMONIAL

“Anaqua AQX provides us with a high degree of automation and relieves us of much of the time‑consuming repetitive work... It’s also helpful to have all our patents, designs, trademarks, and related agreements in one centralized IP management platform.”

– Christof Wolpert, Vice President, Global Legal Product Creation, ADIDAS

CHALLENGES

• Maintaining Competitive Edge: In a fiercely competitive industry, ADIDAS needed to ensure its innovations were not only protected but also strategically aligned with business goals.

• IP Awareness Across the Business: Educating internal stakeholders on the value of IP and integrating IP strategy into broader business decisions was a persistent challenge.

• Efficient IP Management: Managing a global portfolio of patents, trademarks, and designs required a centralized, transparent, and efficient system.

SOLUTION

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Strategic IP Focus:

ADIDAS prioritized quality over quantity in its patent portfolio, focusing on enforceable and desirable IP that provides real business value.

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Cross-Functional Collaboration:

The IP team worked closely with R&D, marketing, and other departments
to broaden innovation coverage and anticipate competitor moves.

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Technology Enablement with Anaqua AQX:

ADIDAS implemented the Anaqua AQX IP platform to streamline IP processes,
enhance transparency, and centralize all IP-related data and agreements.

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Anaqua’s AI solutions

such as AI Classifier helps ADIDAS revolutionize how they classify patent
portfolios by automatically mapping internal IP and external patents, eliminating hours of manual review.

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TESTIMONIAL

“The new AI Classifier by Anaqua is a true gamechanger for us.”

– Christof Wolpert, Vice President, Global Legal Product Creation, ADIDAS

BUSINESS OUTCOMES

Stronger Business Alignment: The IP team reports directly to the General Counsel, enabling IP to influence strategic decisions rather than merely support them.

Improved Innovation Pipeline: Through collaborative brainstorming and strategic patenting, ADIDAS ensures its innovation pipeline is both healthy and forward-looking.

Operational Efficiency: AQX has automated repetitive tasks, centralized decision making data, and improved stakeholder access to critical IP information.

Strategic Influence: IP is now a business partner, not just a legal function, contributing to the formulation of corporate strategy.

“IP comes to the table as a
business partner, not just
a service provider... We
are developing a strategy,
and we want to hear your
input as well.”

 

- Christof Wolpert Vice President, Global Legal Product Creation ADIDAS

LOOKING AHEAD

Anaqua’s AQX platform delivers workflow automation that aligns to your organization’s needs, drives
productivity, and improves visibility – from search, to filing, to renewal. Equally robust for trademarks,
disputes, oppositions, TTAB proceedings, and contracts, AQX allows you to easily keep up with daily
demands. And, by using our data verification feature