[A2k] Bridges Weekly: WIPO General Assembly Ends in Disarray, Amidst Divisions over Leadership

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]

http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/07-10-10/story2.htm

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Although Secretariat officials have staunchly defended Idris against
accusations of misconduct, there are signs that this support may be
beginning to fray. Intellectual Property Watch this week published an
anonymous letter in which several staff members excoriated the WIPO
chief for his exceedingly low profile during the General Assembly.

"Where were you when the future, the image and the reputation of your
organisation were being dragged through the mud a few floors from your
office?" they wrote. "Where were you when our future, our image and our
reputation were at stake? And what is more, when the future of the
wealthiest of the UN institutions, the future of intellectual property
and the future of creativity and innovation of developing countries
were being questioned? Where were you to defend the organisation and
us, your staff?"

The letter was signed 'Cincinnatus,' after the ancient Roman leader
famed for voluntarily giving up dictatorial powers to return to his
farm.

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WIPO GENERAL ASSEMBLY ENDS IN DISARRAY, AMIDST DIVISIONS OVER
DIRECTOR-GENERAL

The World Intellectual Property Organization's annual General Assembly
ended in disarray on 4 October, with member governments unable to agree
on a new budget or future revenue streams for the institution, amidst
divisions on whether Director-General Kamil Idris should resign.

Idris is accused of falsifying his age in WIPO records in ways that
could have sped his rapid rise through the organisation's ranks and
positioned him to receive financial gains.

Industrialised countries, especially the US and Switzerland, called for
Idris to resign, arguing that he was no longer fit to continue at
WIPO's helm. They wanted his fate sealed during the ten-day long
assembly. In contrast, the African group argued that standard WIPO
procedures, which could potentially take as long as one year, would
suffice to address the issue and provide a fair hearing of the case.

The discord on how to deal with Idris spilled over into discussions on
proposed cuts to the patent fees that fund the institution as well as
on the budget for the next two years. Procedural machinations and
unusually confrontational debate on the two issues culminated in votes
- almost without precedent in WIPO's consensus-based system. Both ended
in stalemate, leaving government negotiators uniformly confused about
how to move forward, though broadly united in the view that "it is a
mess."

WIPO will not shut down because member governments could not agree on a
budget for 2008 and 2009. Under the institution's rules, the current
budget will simply continue. The lack of plans for future spending
could potentially affect the implementation of a landmark series of
reforms aimed at placing development concerns at the heart of WIPO's
work. The General Assembly had ratified the 'development agenda' only
days before (see BRIDGES Weekly, 3 October 2007,
http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/07-10-03/story1.htm). Close to half of the
proposed reforms, however, will not entail major new costs, and might
be able to proceed.

The chaos could threaten the organisation itself. Pierre Ruetschi,
editor-in-chief of the Tribune de Gen=E8ve, a Swiss newspaper, wrote
earlier this week that an "inefficient and discredited" WIPO was losing
its place as a "central platform" for negotiating patent, trademark,
and copyright rules - the UN agency's principal raison d'=EAtre. The US
was now looking for other fora in which to address intellectual
property issues, he said, emphasising that "if Washington goes it
alone, WIPO's days are numbered." The resulting "digital Wild West"
would ill serve many countries both rich and poor, he suggested.

The general confusion risks obscuring the substantive achievements made
by members during the General Assembly. Aside from the approval of the
development agenda and the establishment of a new WIPO Committee on
Development and Intellectual Property, governments agreed to prolong
the mandate of an existing committee on traditional knowledge and
genetic resources. They also agreed to continue discussions on patent
law and contentious talks on broadcasters' rights. Members enhanced the
international patent filing system, for instance by bringing Brazilian
and Indian patent authorities into the group that evaluates
applications under the international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT),
which facilitates the patent process in some 138 countries. The
Assembly approved a 90 percent reduction in WIPO's fees for
least-developed country (LDC) applicants seeking to register industrial
designs.

Divisions on Idris affect key votes

Nevertheless, the disagreement over Idris affected the General Assembly
right through the end.

In a strongly worded speech on 1 October, Warren Tichenor, the US'
ambassador to the UN offices in Geneva, called on Idris to either
refute the case against him or resign, reports Reuters. "To the
director-general we say: clearly and convincingly answer the
allegations against you in open forum in this General Assembly before
member states, or heed those calling for new leadership at WIPO," he
said.

A confidential internal report by WIPO auditors in November 2006
confirmed that the director-general had changed his year of birth to
1954 after repeatedly using 1945 for several years, and suggested that
he was in violation of staff rules. The former Sudanese diplomat has
faced other allegations of misconduct in the past as well.

The audit became a proxy for a debate on Idris' leadership: 'Group B'
industrialised countries wanted the report discussed at the ongoing
General Assembly. The African Group, with varying degrees of support
from other developing countries, objected to this, pointing to the
audit's ostensible confidentiality. They argued for following standard
WIPO process, such as discussion in the audit committee after the end
of the assembly.

Ultimately, even a group of 'friends of the chair' drawn from all of
WIPO's regions was too divided to come up with concrete suggestions on
how to proceed, and General Assembly Chair Nigerian Ambassador Martin
Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi's own suggestion for WIPO's audit committee to
review the report within 60 days failed to garner support. The US,
Switzerland, and other Group B countries expressed opposition to
closing debate on the issue. Spain and Switzerland pointed to Idris'
absence from the meetings, saying that his presence "would have been
helpful in shedding some light on what will be the outcome."

  The disagreement cast a shadow over discussions on patent registration
fees under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. These payments make up the
lion's share of WIPO's revenues, and helped account for the
organisation's substantial fiscal surplus for 2006-07. Japan and the US
proposed lowering the fees by 15 percent to bring revenues into line
with expenditures. Brazil and other developing countries wanted a lower
reduction, of 2 to 3 percent, in order to ensure sufficient funding for
development-related activities. The EU proposed a compromise figure of
5 percent. However, members were unable to agree. Algeria, speaking on
behalf of the African Group, called for a vote to effectively postpone
the discussion on patent cooperation fees and move on to budget
negotiations. Observers suggested that the motion became a de facto
vote on support for Idris. It was defeated by two votes, with Group B
industrialised countries voting overwhelmingly against it. Notably,
several Latin American countries abstained, including Brazil, Ecuador,
and Mexico. Even three African countries refrained from supporting
Algeria's motion - Liberia, Malawi, and Tanzania.

As for the budget, discussions continued into the wee hours that
evening. For the first time in the organisation's history, member
states could not reach consensus on the budget, with the US and the
African group bitterly divided. The budget plan for 2008 and 2009 had
already been endorsed by WIPO's programme and budget committee, but it
too became hostage to the differences on Idris.

The Algerian ambassador called for a vote on the budget, saying that he
was compelled to do so because of the need to secure funding for the
development agenda. Only 108 of WIPO's 184 members cast their votes on
the motion, due to absences and a technicality which prevented over two
dozen countries from voting because they had not paid their dues.
Although 64 delegates voted in favour of the budget, this fell short of
the two-thirds majority of 72 that it needed, leaving future spending
plans for WIPO in limbo. Brazil and Ecuador, for instance, supported
the budget despite having abstained from the earlier vote on patent
fees.

Many government delegates are confused as to what will happen next,
although they generally agree that WIPO will not be able to move
forward on the budget and patent fee issues until the issue of Idris'
fate is resolved.

Sources suggest that a group of countries were unsuccessful in attempts
to work out a deal to refer the audit report on Idris to a special
session of the General Assembly in February 2008. One possibility now
is that the Group B developed countries that currently chair the
Coordination Committee, WIPO's executive advisory body, might hold a
special meeting - one could be convened with the consent of only a
quarter of WIPO members. Some suggest that a meeting of the committee
could become a forum for considering the future leadership of the
organisation.

Although Secretariat officials have staunchly defended Idris against
accusations of misconduct, there are signs that this support may be
beginning to fray. Intellectual Property Watch this week published an
anonymous letter in which several staff members excoriated the WIPO
chief for his exceedingly low profile during the General Assembly.

"Where were you when the future, the image and the reputation of your
organisation were being dragged through the mud a few floors from your
office?" they wrote. "Where were you when our future, our image and our
reputation were at stake? And what is more, when the future of the
wealthiest of the UN institutions, the future of intellectual property
and the future of creativity and innovation of developing countries
were being questioned? Where were you to defend the organisation and
us, your staff?"

The letter was signed 'Cincinnatus,' after the ancient Roman leader
famed for voluntarily giving up dictatorial powers to return to his
farm.

ICTSD reporting; "Le mensonge qui menace la Geneve internationale,"
TRIBUNE DE GENEVE, 8 October 2007; "Inside Views Open Letter from Staff
to the Director General of WIPO," INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WATCH, , 8
October 2007; "WIPO Assembly Ends In Deadlock Over Budget, Director
General," INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WATCH, 4 October 2007; "Une large
fracture Nord-Sud a paralyse l'assembl=E9e de l'OMPI," LE TEMPS, 4
October 2007; "US urges UN patent agency chief to consider quitting,"
REUTERS, 1 October 2007.

=A0

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@keionline.org
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