[Ecommerce] IP-Watch: WIPO Members Debate Top Management Positions To Be Filled In June

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

      WIPO Members Debate Top Management Positions To Be Filled In June

At least five of the highest management positions at the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will change hands or be
renewed at a June meeting, and debate is roiling over a firm request for
a post by China and a late request from Japan, according to sources.

The positions up for change are four deputy director general (DDG)
positions (which are second only to the director general), currently
held by Francis Gurry (Australia), Rita Hayes (United States), Philippe
Petit (France) and Geoffrey Yu (Singapore), as well as one assistant
director general (ADG) position currently held by Ernesto Rubio (Uruguay).

The 19-20 June meeting of the Coordination Committee will approve
appointments based on proposals from the director general. A WIPO
spokesperson said that as with all appointments at WIPO, geographical
distribution will be taken into consideration. Senior officials at WIPO
are appointed for three-year terms, and the current terms end in
December 2006.

Candidates for DDGs or ADGs have been put forward by Cameroon, China,
Japan, Nigeria, United States, and Zambia, while India has already
secured the DDG spot held by Yu. Consultations are actively being held
with WIPO Director General Kamil Idris.

China has proposed Wang Binying, a WIPO director, for a deputy director
general post, which has resulted in some discussion of creating a new
DDG position, sources close to the discussions said. In 2001, the number
of DDG posts went from three to four, a source noted.

Another option under discussion for China is to upgrade an existing
director post to assistant director general, but the question is whether
China would settle for such a post given that they asked for the DDG,
the source said. China apparently is prepared to leave it to a committee
vote if it does not get what it wants, the source said. China did not
comment by press time.

Japan also has proposed a candidate, Yoshiyuki Takagi, also a WIPO
director, but a source said that Japan had indicated that it would be
ready to accept the assistant director general post if necessary.

Japan is part of Group B of developed countries at WIPO. Three of the
current DDGs are from Group B (Gurry, Hayes and Petit). There has been
speculation that if China were to get a DDG post, Group B could lose
one, one source said. Group B held a meeting on the issue on 1 May, and
one source said there was some resistance to the creation of a new upper
eschelon position at WIPO at a time when it is in a hiring freeze and
undergoing an intensive desk-to-desk review of jobs.

There also are three African candidates for an assistant director
general position, sources said. These are Herman Ntchatcho (Cameroon),
Geoffrey Onyeama (Nigeria) and Mpazi Sinjela (Zambia), all of whom are
also WIPO directors.

The United States has proposed Michael Keplinger of the US Patent and
Trademark Office for Hayes=92 position (/IPW/, WIPO, 13 April 2006). Hayes
is a Democrat while Keplinger is a Republican, the party of the Bush
administration. [Editor=92s Note: Please see below for Keplinger=92s biogra=
phy]

Hayes is in charge of copyright and related rights and industry
relations; Petit of external relations and cooperation with certain
countries in Europe and Asia; Gurry of Patent Cooperation Treaty
patents, the Arbitration and Mediation Centre, and global intellectual
property issues; Yu of the economic development sector; and Rubio of
trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications.

State of Play

Hayes and Petit were appointed deputy directors general in December 2001
and their terms were extended in September 2003. Gurry and Yu were
appointed deputy directors general in 2003, according to WIPO.

China has proposed that Wang should take over one of the deputy director
general posts, according to several sources. Wang is executive director
of administrative support services and general assembly affairs at
WIPO=92s international office. China sent out a note to member states
about the proposal on 5 April this year, one of the recipients said. But
one developed country said it seemed like it would be difficult for
China to get this through in this round.

It is not clear which deputy director general post China would like Wang
to get, especially considering that China forms its own geographical
group at WIPO and does not formally belong to the Asian Group. It was
also noted at the 1 May Group B meeting that Idris may only make
recommendations for three years as his term as director general is up in
2009.

Narendra Kumar Sabharwal of India was approved at a 2003 meeting of the
Coordination Committee as the new deputy director general taking over
for Yu on 1 December 2006, the WIPO spokesperson said. Sabharwal will
serve until 30 November 2009. This post has been filled by
representatives from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia
on a rotating basis, according to a WIPO paper.

The two three-year terms for the development post had been a compromise
as there had been two proposals for this position in 2003, one Asian
source said.

That leaves the posts of Petit and Gurry. One developed country source
said that Gurry=92s native Australia as well as =93a number of other
members=94 strongly support the reappointment of Gurry considering his
=93experience, expertise and strong management credentials.=94 Another
developed country official said Gurry =93still enjoys widespread support
and might remain for three additional years.=94

The source did not believe Petit would be challenged by another European
Union official, and Petit has indicated that he was keen to continue in
his position.

WIPO Director General Kamil Idris=92 second six-year mandate ends on 30
November 2009, according to the spokesperson. One developing country
source said that theoretically the Coordination Committee could suggest
that he resign before the end of this period, but as this had not
happened last year when WIPO was under the most scrutiny by various
audit committees and the pressure had been heavier, the source did not
think it would happen this year (/IPW/, WIPO, 21 December 2005).

Also, such a suggestion would require a wide consultation among member
states and so far this has not happened, the source said.

Ongoing Consultations

At the moment Idris is =93in the process of undertaking informal
consultations ahead of making proposals to the Coordination Committee,=94
the WIPO spokesperson said. On 19-20 June, the committee will then
approve the appointments based on the proposals from the director
general, who then will formally make the appointments. Several sources
said that the committee approval is more procedural as most concerns are
resolved in the consultations before the director general makes his
selection.

The current appointment process started on 30 January 2006 when Idris
sent out a note to all WIPO member states indicating his intention to
convene the extraordinary meeting of the Coordination Committee in June,
the developed country source said.

The appointments made at the June meeting will take effect as of 1
December 2006 according to Article 9(7) of the WIPO Convention, the
source said, adding that the note also invited interested parties to
hold meetings with the director general about the appointment process.

Article 9(7) of the WIPO Convention =93provides that the Director General
shall appoint the deputy directors general after approval of the
Coordination Committee. Since the establishment of the grade of
assistant director general, a similar procedure to that set out in
Article 9(7) for deputy directors general has been followed in practice
for the appointment of assistant directors general,=94 according to WIPO
paper WO/CC/50/2.

The Coordination Committee

According to Article 4(a) and 4(b) under Article 8 of the WIPO
Convention, the Coordination Committee is supposed to meet once a year
in ordinary session, but may also meet in extraordinary session, the
spokesperson said.

The June extraordinary session appears to be aimed at separating this
appointments process from the other issues of the committee. It is
expected to meet again in the autumn around the time of the WIPO General
Assembly, they said.

The Coordination Committee consists of members of three bodies: the
Executive Committee of the Paris Union (protection of industrial
property; 41 members), the Executive Committee of the Berne Union
(protection of literary and artistic works; 37 members) and one-quarter
of the states that have signed up to the WIPO Convention but that are
not members of any of the WIPO unions, according to WIPO paper A/41/9
Rev from the 2005 General Assembly. In addition, Switzerland as a host
state is an ex officio member of the committee, WIPO said.

The members of the Coordination Committee are elected every second year
at the General Assembly, according to the WIPO paper, adding that 82
members will serve until September 2007. It also has administrative
tasks such as preparing the draft agenda for the WIPO General Assembly,
according to Article 8 of the convention.

Biography of Michael S. Keplinger (source: US Patent and Trademark Office)

Positions:

=95 United States Patent and Trademark Office.
May 1984 - Present, Senior Counselor, Office of Legislation and
International Affairs.

=95 United States Copyright Office.
September 1983 - May 1984, Policy Planning Advisor, Office of the
Register of Copyrights.
April 1980 - September 1983, Chief Information and Reference Division.
September 1978 - April 1980, Special Legal Assistant to the Register of
Copyrights.

=95 National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works.
January 1976 - September 1978, Assistant Executive Director and Senior
Attorney.

=95 National Bureau of Standards (now National Institutes of Standards and
Technology).
June 1971 - January 1976, Staff Assistant, Institute for Computer
Sciences and Technology.
June 1967 - June 1971, Computer Scientist, Institute for Computer
Sciences and Technology.

=95 Military Service.
U.S. Army Ordnance Corps, July 1963 - May 1967, Logistics Officer,
attained rank of Captain.

Experience:

Extensive experience in US and international copyright. Copyright
negotiator for the United States in the TRIPS negotiations. Represented
the United States in a number of international meetings dealing with
legal protection for computer software, computer uses of copyrighted
works, legal protection for semiconductor chips and special copyright
problems of developing countries. Alternate Head of Delegation for the
1996 Diplomatic Conference on Certain Copyright and Neighboring Rights
questions, and for the 1989 Diplomatic Conference on the Legal
Protection of Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits.
Consultant to the World Intellectual Property Organization on the legal
protection of computer programs. Has negotiated numerous bilateral
agreements on copyright protection as part of Administration teams under
Special 301 investigations. Participated in the development of
legislative proposals and the implementation of a variety of
intellectual property laws. Was responsible for developing the
legislation that recognized that computer software was protected by
copyright.