It was amidst a backdrop of growing tensions and difficult negotiations at this year’s General Assembly that the 2014 process of electing the WIPO Director General officially began. Two candidates have been formally nominated for the position thus far: current incumbent Director General Francis Gurry from Australia, and Deputy Director General Geoffrey Oneayama from Nigeria. Continue reading “WIPO Elections Update: The Campaign Begins”
If you were following this year’s General Assembly, all the way to its confused and ultimately unsatisfactory end, then you’re well aware that a number of issues currently remain unresolved at WIPO. The assemblies of Member States will reconvene later this year in an attempt to bridge gaps, and find resolutions to the issues looming over them, moving into the next biennium.
Even amongst those agenda items which were successfully closed, the headway made was at times dubious at best. One such case was Agenda Item 32: Report of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) and Review of the Implementation of the Development Agenda Recommendations.
US Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren has released a letter calling on the US Secretary of State to oppose the re-election of WIPO Director General Francis Gurry over concerns relating to the WIPO export of computers to Iran and North Korea. Read the full post for Global Memo here.
The process of considering nominations to the post of WIPO Director General has begun. Read Sara Bannerman’s full post on the topic, outlining the broader politics at play on Global Memo. , following the issue of a circular (Annex II) by WIPO on 6 September inviting nominations from member states.
Continue reading “WIPO solicits nominations for 2014 election of Director General”
As we move towards the second half of September, we also mover ever closer to the Forty-Third (21st Ordinary) General Assembly of the Member States of WIPO. Meetings will take place in Geneva between September 23 to October 2, 2013. In an effort to prepare for this event, we have put together a small guide highlighting some of what observers might expect to see unfold and-or presented at this year’s assembly.
Continue reading “What to expect from the 2013 WIPO General Assembly”
