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TWN Info Service on Intellectual
Property Issues (May08/03) Please find below a report on the recent WIPO elections for the position of Director General. United Nations: Mr Gurry was nominated by the Coordination Committee of WIPO late Tuesday following four rounds of voting by the committee, which is composed of 83 member states. Mr Gurry is now expected to be appointed by the WIPO General Assembly at its next meeting scheduled for 22-30 September 2008. He will assume his duties on 1 October 2008 following the appointment by the General Assembly. In an extremely close-fought
contest, Mr Gurry obtained 42 votes in the fourth and final round of
voting, as opposed to 41 votes received by Mr Jose Graca Aranha of Mr Gurry was selected from a list that originally included 15 candidates. The other candidates were Mrs. Alicia Adamczak (Poland), Mr. Toufiq Ali (Bangladesh), Mr. Jorge Amigo (Mexico), Mr. Gjorgji Filipov (Macedonia), Mr. Jose Graca Aranha (Brazil), Mr. Masood Khan (Pakistan), Mr. Enrique A. Manalo (Philippines), Mr. Mauro Masi (Italy), Mr. James Otieno Odek (Kenya), Mr. Philippe Petit (France), Mr. Bojan Pretnar (Slovenia), Mr. Boris Simonov (Russian Federation), Mr. Yoshiyuki Takagi (Japan), and Mr. Jose Delmer Urbizo (Honduras). Three days were set aside this week for the Coordination Committee meeting. However, the withdrawal of seven candidates following the second round of formal voting accelerated the process. The final result was announced after 6.30 p. m. The top three candidates
to emerge after the first round of voting were Francis Gurry ( In the third round, Gurry obtained 35 votes, Graca Aranha 29 votes and Khan 19 votes. Gurry and Graca Aranha then faced off in the final round, with Gurry obtaining 42 votes against 41 for Graca Aranha. Mr Gurry joined WIPO in 1985 and is currently a Deputy Director-General responsible for the international filing system for patents (i. e. the Patent Cooperation Treaty); International Patent Classification (IPC); WIPO standards; WIPO statistics; the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre; and Traditional Knowledge, Traditional Cultural Expressions, Genetic Resources and Life Sciences. He will replace Dr Kamil
Idris of The issue came to a boil
last October when a group of developed countries at WIPO's General Assemblies
- led by the Following his victory, Gurry said that WIPO is first a "service" organisation, and must be state-of-the-art in what it does. But it is also "extremely important for this organisation that the Development Agenda be robust." In his presentation to WIPO Member states on 14 April 2008, he mentioned that the challenge to WIPO is to recognize the complementarity between its role as a "service-provider" to the global economy and its role as a development agency. Gurry gave examples of ways in which the Development Agenda can move from somewhat abstract principles to concrete projects. He mentioned assistance for developing and transition countries to access records of technology published as part of the patent system; WIPO can establish a database of important scientific publications and make it available on preferential and subsidized terms to developing and transition countries; and to facilitate the transition of IP offices in developing and transition countries from passive, registration offices towards a role as a service-provider to the local enterprise and universities. On "Norms" he added that a "number of adjustments need to be explored by the Organization within the framework of a strategic plan for which the next Director General must personally engage to achieve consensus." These adjustments include creating the conditions for better demand management and resource allocation in the processing of patent applications throughout the world; accommodating traditional knowledge systems within the international intellectual property system, which was designed on the basis of Western knowledge systems; and meet the challenges of the Internet for creative works, including the question of secondary liability. On "Engagement", Gurry had said that WIPO must more actively engage in policy processes in other international instances concerning the intersection of intellectual property and other areas of public policy, such as health and the environment. It remains to be seen to what extent Gurry, after he assumes the post of Director-General, will take on and implement the 45 Recommendations on the Development Agenda, that relate to norm-setting activities, provision of technical assistance, institutions; transfer of technology; institutional matters, assessment, evaluation and impact studies etc. These are available at www. wipo. int/ip-development/en/agenda/cdip_recommendations.html. Reuters reported US ambassador Warren Tichenor as being very positive about Gurry's appointment, saying that the Australian's nomination "begins a very much needed process of healing in the organisation," which was battered from outside and within by controversy around Dr Idris. Tichenor played a prime role in a bid last year to persuade Dr Idris to step down over allegations of misconduct. +
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