About

PUIG is a Spanish multinational fashion and fragrance group which has been operated by the Puig family since it was founded in 1914. The company owns, operates and licenses some of the most recognised brands in the fashion and fragrance sectors, covering over 150 countries with its products. PUIG success stories include a combination of owned brands such as Carolina Herrera, Nina Ricci, Paco Rabanne, Jean Paul Gaultier, Penhaligon’s and L’Artisan Parfumeur, as well as licenses such as Prada, Valentino and Comme des Garçons. As PUIG’s luxury brands are widely recognised and desired, intellectual property challenges, copyright infringement and counterfeit goods present a growing and increasingly global challenge for the legal team, which is led by Marta Sulé as vice president of corporate legal services. The legal team has received a number of plaudits and awards from the press and interest bodies for its efforts to minimising the impact of counterfeit goods. The team’s comprehensive approach to seizure actions, pre-litigation actions, civil litigation, e-commerce monitoring, advertising campaigns and enforcements have resulted in significant removal of fake goods from the market, directly easing the stress on the PUIG’s bottom line. Major ports in Germany, Spain and the UK have all seen high volumes of seizures in perfumes in recent years thanks to the legal team’s actions. This commerciality and business alignment was highlighted by a number of nominators, with one stating that ‘they all have a legal approach as a real partner to the business and they look constantly for efficiency. They work really globally with other legal stakeholders [in] other countries’. Sources also pointed to efforts that the legal team has made to modernise the function, having ‘recently put in motion a project to successfully implement the digitalisation process of the group. Marta Sulé, with high level legal skills, leads a team which is an example of the legal in-house team of the future’.