WIPO begins selection for top job amid US pressure
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will today, March 4 begin the process of choosing a new director general to succeed Francis Gurry.
WIPO’s coordination committee, containing representatives from more than 80 countries, is scheduled to meet today and tomorrow in Geneva to nominate one of six candidates to the organisation’s General Assembly.
Candidates will be whittled down to two through a series of votes, before a final ballot is held.
The election takes place against the backdrop of a political dispute between the US and China, over the latter’s nomination of Wang Binying for the post.
US politicians including several congressmen and former White House aide John Bolton have claimed that Wang’s candidacy represents a threat to the IP system, while China has accused the US of trying to manipulate the process for political gain.
Last week, China’s ambassador to the United Nations office in Geneva hit out at the US over its opposition to Wang’s candidacy.
“The US has no candidate of its own, yet it tries every means to block Wang Binying and even takes this venture at its top diplomatic agenda," Chen told reporters.
Shen Changyu, commissioner of China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), also told state-run media outlet Xinhua that “facts speak louder than words” when it comes to China’s IP protection policies.
Wang currently holds the position of WIPO deputy director general with responsibility for trademarks, designs, and geographical indications.
She is just one of several incumbents in senior WIPO posts contesting the race. Others include Marco Matías Alemán (Colombia), director of WIPO’s patent law division; and legal counsel Edward Kwakwa (Ghana).
The remaining candidates are current heads of national or regional IP offices. They are Daren Tang, chief executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore; Eurasian Patent Office president Saule Tlevlessova (Kazakhstan); and Ivo Gagliuffi Piercechi, head of the Peruvian IP office INDECOPI.
The coordination committee’s nomination for the post will be subject to the final approval of the WIPO General Assembly in May.
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