About

Gonzalo Barboza began his career at Argentine firm Pérez Alati, Grondona, Benites, Arntsen & Martínez de Hoz (h) before spending two years with Hogan Lovells in Spain. Moving in house at Red Bull in September 2009, he has been director of intellectual property for the Americas since May 2012. With a small team of four, he manages an IP portfolio that reaches beyond the group’s core-drinks sector activity into media, sports and entertainment holdings. The team is currently handling some 700 active cases spread across, litigations, oppositions, licensing matters, antipiracy actions, border measures and clearances. Since his arrival Barboza has undertaken a thorough overhaul of internal procedures and operations so as to maximise efficiency, addressing matters ranging from billing systems to client-lawyer communication protocols. Externally he has overseen a review of external legal counsel throughout the region and replacing service providers in a number of Latin American jurisdictions. Arguably his most notable achievement, however, was the securing of a general exclusion order (GEO) from the US International Trade Commission prohibiting parallel imports. Not only did this establish a precedent in the US but its success in virtually eliminating the problem also had a considerable commercial impact upon the company. He regards the greatest challenge in his role, however, to be that of ‘maintaining a high level of service to our internal clients in a continuous and consistent manner despite the growth in both the number of cases and in their complexity.’ His ability to do so has played a crucial part in ensuring that Red Bull remains at the vanguard of IP enforcement efforts.