The Fragrance Materials Association and Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association recently hosted its first webinar on intellectual property issues, offering points of view from flavor and fragrance houses, as well as the customer.
Kathleen Crossman of Givaudan addressed the view from a flavor house, particularly the delicate balance between wants and needs in formula disclosure requests. Crossman noted that finding the right person with whom to liaise within a requesting customer company can be tricky, but effective. "It is a bit difficult," she said. "Sometimes you’ll get a request in from people and you don’t know who they are within the organization, so you can work with your sales force to understand who these people are and what their contacts are. But, generally, if we don’t have the regulatory contacts at our fingertips, we’ll ask them, ‘Can we speak with your regulatory group?’ Encouraging that regulatory to regulatory contact does an awful lot to help speed the process along and minimize the hand-off along the way."
Cheryl Kissel, director of corporate safety and regulatory affairs at Takasago USA remarked that her organization has received many marketing requests on the fragrance side that sought to confirm natural claims. Other requests for disclosure were linked to concerns over patent infringement. When asked if her organization submits International Fragrance Association (IFRA) certificates with every submission, Kissel said, "Every fragrance that we submit definitely is in compliance with IFRA standards. We don’t do a certificate on every fragrance, [except] when the customer requires it."