AI in IP: Moving from Defense to Strategic Advantage

Article by Paula Farina – Head of Global Brand and Marketing at Pulpou, published in AI Horizon Journal for AI Ethics & Integrity International Association.

AI in IP: Moving from Defense to Strategic Advantage

Pulpou is a global platform that gives brands the clarity they need to protect their value and control how they show up in the market. The company helps organizations monitor unauthorized sellers, detect pricing violations, and uncover market distortions—turning fragmented data into actionable insights. Its proprietary technology equips legal, compliance, and marketing teams with rare visibility into how unauthorized commercialization unfolds, empowering them to act with precision not only to prevent loss, but to uncover commercial opportunities hidden in fragmented channels.

From takedowns to root cause: a shift in mindset

In the field of intellectual property, AI is often associated with speed and volume: scanning marketplaces, flagging listings, and scaling enforcement. But scale without strategy can lead to noise. Pulpou focuses instead on helping companies understand the why behind the data.

Rather than relying on isolated alerts or mass takedowns, Pulpou’s platform identifies the root causes of unauthorized commercialization, recurring seller behavior, regional patterns, and structural weaknesses in distribution. This shift from reactive enforcement to proactive analysis enables organizations to act with greater precision and context.

Each AI-generated detection is fully traceable, with transparent logic and human oversight built in. This level of explainability has been critical in building trust, both in the technology and in the decisions it supports. For many clients, this has opened the door to broader action: not just removing harmful listings, but engaging more strategically with the sellers or dynamics behind them.

“eCommerce has redefined how brands compete, and exposed how easily they can lose control,” says Paula Farina, Head of Global Brand and Marketing at Pulpou. “What we’re building isn’t just a tool. It’s the kind of infrastructure that any brand aiming to scale in the next five years will need if they want to protect pricing, positioning, and long-term value.”

Expanding commercial impact through seller transformation

Beyond enforcement, the removal of problematic sellers from the market has opened up unexpected commercial upside for many of Pulpou’s clients. In several cases, companies have not only cleared unauthorized listings, they’ve identified sellers with strong presence and demand who were operating informally, and converted them into official distributors or retail partners.

This shift has proven highly efficient: rather than acquiring entirely new sellers, brands are transforming existing ones who are already reaching their audience. The result is faster onboarding, expanded product offering, and significantly higher ROI.

At the same time, official channels benefit from a cleaner environment. Authorized partners feel protected when they see the brand actively managing grey or unapproved sellers, strengthening trust and reinforcing their own commercial investment.

Why IP needs its own AI ethics framework

The use of AI in IP enforcement raises specific ethical questions that go beyond general regulatory guidance. While frameworks like the EU AI Act and OECD AI Principles have laid foundational principles around transparency, accountability, and risk, the IP and legaltech space requires more focused attention.

Key questions remain around what qualifies as actionable evidence in AI-driven systems, where human oversight should intervene, and how companies should balance efficiency with fairness. In the absence of clear standards, companies often operate within fragmented practices, exposing themselves to inconsistent outcomes and compliance uncertainty.

A harmonized framework tailored to the realities of IP enforcement would not only support stronger governance, it would increase the legitimacy of AI-powered tools across legal, commercial, and regulatory environments.

The Next Frontier: Market Foresight, Not Just Enforcement

While AI has traditionally been used in IP to identify infringements, forward-looking organizations are beginning to harness it for broader strategic intelligence. Pulpou works with global brands using price tracking and behavioral detection not just to respond to violations, but to inform market positioning, detect channel instability, and anticipate threats across regions.

In one case, a leading health and nutrition company used the platform’s localized price insights to adjust commercial strategies across multiple retailers. In another, a major marketplace integrated Pulpou’s detection system into its own brand protection infrastructure, improving trust and response times across its ecosystem.

These examples reflect a growing trend: companies are moving beyond enforcement alone. They are using AI to unlock real-time visibility into how their brand is presented, perceived, and sold, transforming complexity into clarity, and threats into actionable foresight.