IPOS chief nominated to lead WIPO
Daren Tang, the current head of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), has been nominated to lead the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
WIPO’s coordination committee, containing representatives from more than 80 countries, met today in Geneva to nominate one of the six candidates for the post to the organisation’s General Assembly.
Tang, who will succeed Francis Gurry, beat out other candidates including Wang Binying (China), WIPO deputy director general, whose nomination had been opposed by the US.
Tang became chief executive of IPOS in November 2015, after serving as deputy chief executive for three years. His term saw major updates to Singapore’s IP Hub Masterplan, legislative and policy reforms to the IP regime, and a scaling up of international engagement, according to a press release from the office.
Prior to his time at IPOS, Tang was the lead IP negotiator and legal counsel for Singapore in several free-trade agreements.
Tang said he was “humbled and honoured” by the nomination.
“There were many well-qualified candidates who contested through a fair, open and transparent process, and this shows how important WIPO is to the global community. I look forward to the confirmation of the nomination by the WIPO General Assembly in May 2020, and to jointly write the next chapter of WIPO’s future,” he added.
The coordination committee’s nomination of Tang will be subject to the final approval of the WIPO General Assembly in May. If confirmed, Tang will be the fifth director general of WIPO, assuming official duties on October 1, 2020, for a six-year term.
In a Facebook post, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong noted that this was the first time a Singaporean has been nominated for the leadership position of a UN agency.
“We look forward to WIPO’s General Assembly approving Daren’s appointment as director general in May 2020,” said Loong.
Tang beat candidates representing a broad range of countries, including Marco Matías Alemán (Colombia), director of WIPO’s patent law division; and WIPO legal counsel Edward Kwakwa (Ghana).
The remaining candidates were current heads of national or regional IP offices: Eurasian Patent Office president Saule Tlevlessova (Kazakhstan); and Ivo Gagliuffi Piercechi, head of the Peruvian IP office INDECOPI.
WIPR has previously reported on the political tensions surrounding the race, in particular on the US’ opposition to Wang’s candidacy. US politicians including several congressmen and former White House aide John Bolton had claimed that Wang’s candidacy represented a threat to the IP system, while China has accused the US of trying to manipulate the process for political gain.
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