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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 <\/strong>in an interview on the sidelines of the Via Licensing Business Summit in Shanghai last month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Joining her \u2013 in the interview and in leading Orange\u2019s IP efforts \u2013 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was missing being part of a team trying to achieve something different and difficult, in an international and multi-cultural environment \u2013 and I knew Orange could offer that,\u201d 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mrs. Brillouet’s new leadership role will encompass both research and intellectual property, focusing on enhancing Orange\u2019s research capabilities to boost competitiveness. \u201cWe want to better leverage our research investment, shape our practice, and make the research more impactful and even more coordinated with the business,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cFor us, it\u2019s really crucial to lead our future, with our partners and for our customers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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: <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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 \u201cconcrete demonstration\u201d 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\u2019s R&D. To really emphasize IP\u2019s importance to the board, her team has doubled down on demonstrating the \u201creal business value\u201d from research and IP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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. \u201cOf course, it is up to the market to decide whether Orange is a significant player in the IP landscape,\u201d Mrs. Brillouet underlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou need to be prepared for a very steep learning curve \u2013 it\u2019s 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.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n He noted that the only way to be successful in a career in IP is to constantly challenge whatever way things are made: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven if things are perfect \u2013 which is often not the case anyway \u2013 today\u2019s perfect will no longer be that way tomorrow. So, constantly questioning yourself and your team and accepting the idea that today\u2019s right will be wrong tomorrow will lead you to success.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n A third and final tip is to have a wide range of knowledge and skills. Quoting Benjamin Franklin, he said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf we all think alike, no one is thinking \u2013 someone with a different logic is going to have a different approach and add value to the decision process.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n And how do Mrs. Brillouet and Mr. Barrault work together? <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSeamless\u201d, \u201csmooth\u201d, and \u201cvery easy\u201d 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 \u201ccommon character metric\u201d, as Mrs. Brillouet put it: positive people with lots of energy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most importantly, though, Mr. Barrault emphasized that both of them know that they are not in their positions to continue whatever was there \u2013 but to keep changing and improving things. \u201cWe know each other enough to challenge each other and accept that \u2013 we know it\u2019s the best way to get the best decision,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Through this seamless relationship, the two have also reached a clear consensus on what successful leadership looks like: <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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. \u201cBeing here is critical to get things moving on the technologies we license directly,\u201d he commented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr Barrault has worked in roles that have taken him across the world \u2013 from Madagascar to Silicon Valley, and Poland to Spain \u2013 and it is through this that he has learned to understand others\u2019 positions and be open to those he is negotiating with. \u201cEven though I am really French,\u201d he admits, \u201cI tend to make sure it\u2019s 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.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For the two, the next five years include more patents, more revenue and research awarded for its scientific leadership. \u201cAnd a real capability to lead the future for our company,\u201d Mrs. Brillouet said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Being appointed Orange\u2019s Executive VP of Research was a \u201cconcrete demonstration\u201d of how seriously the board takes the IP department, Lyse Brillouet told ip fray on the sidelines of Via LA\u2019s Summit in Shanghai.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Lyse-and-Harold-Orange-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2389"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2396,"href":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389\/revisions\/2396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018Leading our own future\u2019 <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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\u2018Never take things for granted\u2019 <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Recognising China\u2019s ever-growing presence on the global IP stage <\/h4>\n\n\n\n