The Jerusalem Post sat down with President of The Luzzatto Group Kfir Luzzatto, as part of a special dialogue, to discuss the Luzzatto Group’s mission as it continues to back Israeli innovation on a grand-scale – helping entrepreneurs navigate the deep waters of patent law, turning IP into technological reality.
The Luzzatto Group, originally established 152-years ago by Luzzatto’s great-grandfather, began as a general law firm focused on issues surrounding the booming industrial revolution.
Within its more modern activities, The Luzzatto Group now focuses its efforts on intellectual property (IP), and by consequence, has been responsible for churning out Israeli innovation for the better part of the last century.
“It was a time when the Industrial Revolution was going on,” Luzzatto said. “My grandfather also was an inventor; he invented all kinds of aircrafts, engines, wings and stuff.
In 1971, the family made Aliyah, and immigrated to Israel, moving the firm with them.
Luzzatto himself is specifically responsible for managing a spider web of aspects that hold his family’s law firm together – whether that be focusing his attention on assisting clients, developing strategies for the firm or dealing with specific patents.
“Our job is to help [entrepreneurs] develop the IP,” Luzzatto said, as well as to “understand what they can get from the IP.”
Luzzatto noted that, while many entrepreneurs have wonderful ideas, even if they are technically savvy, they are still unaware that their great ideas might not be protected by patents, and other times people don’t appreciate the value of what they have.
The Luzzatto Group currently manages a large number of Fortune 500 companies, as well as many Israeli start-ups looking to lift their businesses up off the ground. The Group’s legal division, which includes Luzzatto and Luzzatto Patent Attorneys and The Luzzatto Law Firm, helps individuals, start-ups, companies and multinational corporations protect their intellectual property. The Group’s Business Division includes Luzzatto Consulting, Luzzatto Software and Luzzatto BizDev. Luzzatto Consulting provides professional, technical and scientific consulting. Luzzatto Software develops software for the Group’s needs. Luzzatto BizDev develops business opportunities for the Group and, in some cases, for the Group’s clients – creating opportunities for growth.
One of The Luzzatto Group’s more well-known clients manufactured and released the first authorized coronavirus vaccine.
“We [assist] many large pharmaceutical companies, and they were all busy trying to save us from COVID,” Luzzatto said. “However, life goes on, and there are many other interesting projects that those companies do.
“The great thing for us is that we see them much earlier than anyone else, and it is a privilege, really.”
One of the bigger challenges The Luzzatto Group faces is the misconceptions around patent and IP law. Many companies end up losing their rights because they believe they are doing everything right when really the situation is more nuanced than that.
Additionally, while Israel is known as the start-up nation, many companies have a difficult time garnering the financial backing to turn their inventions into reality, within the country’s saturated tech sphere.
“We have a lot of clever, bright inventors in Israel… but not enough financial support; some parts of the country are underdeveloped, such as Kiryat Shmona,” Luzzatto said. “We recently opened an office there, as we see many great companies and ideas that need the right support and opportunity.”
Luzzatto leaves the discussion with a parting note: The Israeli sector is much more mature than when it began seriously dealing with IP. This, Luzzatto finds encouraging.
However, in order to continue turning that growth into long-lasting success, Israel needs to focus on spreading the wealth and supporting even the smallest of companies – who he said, more times than not, come up with the biggest and brightest ideas.
This article was written in cooperation with the Luzzatto Group.