Director of Intellectual Property | ABRO Industries, Inc. | USA
William Mansfield is the Director of Intellectual Property for ABRO Industries, Inc. headquartered in South Bend, Indiana. ABRO exports a wide variety of household, automotive and light industrial goods such as glues, tapes and oils from the United States under the ABRO® brand to individuals in developing nations worldwide. Mr. Mansfield is in charge of protecting the over 2,000 trademarks ABRO has registered in over 175 countries. He has himself traveled to 59 foreign countries and handled matters in over 160.
Mr. Mansfield, after a stint in the U.S. Army working with Military Intelligence, began his work in intellectual property 26 years ago as an undercover investigator. He then worked his way up the brand protection world operating in virtually every role. He has designed complex anticounterfeiting programs for major multinational brands and managed teams of investigators and attorneys globally. He oversaw an international sting operation that was so ground-breaking NPR’s Planet Money covered it.
Mr. Mansfield is a prolific public speaker on various issues such as brand protection strategy, anticounterfeiting in China and the developing world, and understanding criminal counterfeiter motivations. He earned his undergraduate degree in Psychology from Purdue University. He earned both his J.D. and M.B.A. from Indiana University. He teaches economics and international business at the University of Saint Francis.
