French telecommunications giant Orange has recently expanded its patent portfolio substantially, now boasting over 11,000 patents covering technologies from audio and video codecs to cloud services, quantum and AI. At the heart of that growth is an IP team based in Paris (with employees located in other research and development centers in France) led by Lyse Brillouet. Her team is part of the R&D department as a separate business unit.
At the turn of the new year and after almost 20 years in different roles at the company, Mrs. Brillouet was appointed Executive VP of Research. The role has long existed, but as Orange heightens its focus on being a research leader, the way the role is practised will be with a renewed attention to IP as a booster for research investment, she told ip fray in an interview on the sidelines of the Via Licensing Business Summit in Shanghai last month.
Joining her – in the interview and in leading Orange’s IP efforts – is Harold Barrault, Vice President of Patent Licensing. He started out his career as an IT engineer before trying out various product, project and transformation management jobs, as well as stints in marketing and business. After being a program manager at Orange from 2002 to 2007, Mr. Barrault left to join a start-up with one of his colleagues and returned in 2014 when the start-up was successfully sold.
“I was missing being part of a team trying to achieve something different and difficult, in an international and multi-cultural environment – and I knew Orange could offer that,” he said. After serving as Head of Products & Services Solutions, delivering innovation to Orange European affiliates, Mr. Barrault was appointed Vice President of Patent Licensing in May 2017.
‘Leading our own future’
Mrs. Brillouet’s new leadership role will encompass both research and intellectual property, focusing on enhancing Orange’s research capabilities to boost competitiveness. “We want to better leverage our research investment, shape our practice, and make the research more impactful and even more coordinated with the business,” she said, adding: “For us, it’s really crucial to lead our future, with our partners and for our customers.”
Mrs. Brillouet was first appointed Chief Intellectual Property Officer and Senior Vice President of Licensing in December 2017. Since taking on that role, her first in IP, she was tasked with several goals. Chiefly, these were:
- Internally: get the attention of the board.
- Externally: be recognized as a big name in the international IP landscape and have one of the largest patent portfolios in the telecommunications sector.
The first goal is something many IP departments struggle with, but Mrs. Brillouet believes that she has been able to achieve it. Her new role, she explained, is a “concrete demonstration” of how the department has been taken into consideration by the board. This goal is key in ensuring that the IP unit is granted the right financial capabilities to file its patent applications, bring in revenue, and ensure fair compensation for the company’s R&D. To really emphasize IP’s importance to the board, her team has doubled down on demonstrating the “real business value” from research and IP.
The second goal is also faring well, she noted. When she started the Chief IP role, the company had 6,000 patents. Today, it boasts more than 11,000. “Of course, it is up to the market to decide whether Orange is a significant player in the IP landscape,” Mrs. Brillouet underlines.
‘Never take things for granted’
Both Mrs. Brillouet and Mr. Barrault fell into IP after years of technical, business and marketing roles. Mr. Barrault shared some tips for individuals taking on a role in patent licensing with no specific background in it:
“You need to be prepared for a very steep learning curve – it’s so huge and complex, and it takes a lot of time and humility to be able to accept that many things you have learned do not work in IP. You must be ready to re-wire your mind.”
He noted that the only way to be successful in a career in IP is to constantly challenge whatever way things are made:
“Even if things are perfect – which is often not the case anyway – today’s perfect will no longer be that way tomorrow. So, constantly questioning yourself and your team and accepting the idea that today’s right will be wrong tomorrow will lead you to success.”
A third and final tip is to have a wide range of knowledge and skills. Quoting Benjamin Franklin, he said:
“If we all think alike, no one is thinking – someone with a different logic is going to have a different approach and add value to the decision process.”
And how do Mrs. Brillouet and Mr. Barrault work together?
“Seamless”, “smooth”, and “very easy” is how they described their working relationship. The two have been working together for seven years, and this has helped them build trust and autonomy with each other. The two share one mind, as well as having a “common character metric”, as Mrs. Brillouet put it: positive people with lots of energy.
Most importantly, though, Mr. Barrault emphasized that both of them know that they are not in their positions to continue whatever was there – but to keep changing and improving things. “We know each other enough to challenge each other and accept that – we know it’s the best way to get the best decision,” he explained.
Through this seamless relationship, the two have also reached a clear consensus on what successful leadership looks like:
- “Never take things for granted, be humble”
- “When others are willing to follow you”
- “Be empathetic and meet people’s needs so they are able to deliver the best they can”
Recognising China’s ever-growing presence on the global IP stage
When asked why they came to Shanghai, Mr. Barrault said that China is a key continent for IP practice. The company is very supportive of patent pools (it is involved in 23 programs, including with Via LA, Sisvel, and Avanci), and it is also engaged in many bilateral negotiations with Chinese actors. “Being here is critical to get things moving on the technologies we license directly,” he commented.
Mr Barrault has worked in roles that have taken him across the world – from Madagascar to Silicon Valley, and Poland to Spain – and it is through this that he has learned to understand others’ positions and be open to those he is negotiating with. “Even though I am really French,” he admits, “I tend to make sure it’s not going to be a barrier to the relationships I am going to have with people. I am always amazed at the quality of people you can meet everywhere and truly enjoy discovering other cultures.”
This quality is shared with the entire Licensing team. It was key in the multi-lateral deal with Xiaomi, IP Bridge, Siemens and Orange in January 2023, proposed and mediated by Paul Lin from Eagle Forest. At the time, it was seen as highly unique.
Mr. Barrault added that Orange is looking to launch a new licensing program later this year to cover other technologies, with a different approach from what Orange is doing today.
For the two, the next five years include more patents, more revenue and research awarded for its scientific leadership. “And a real capability to lead the future for our company,” Mrs. Brillouet said.