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• Posted May 17, 2014, 9 a.m. - 10 years, 7 months ago

Congratulations to Francis Gurry

Francis Gurry has 2 reasons to celebrate at the moment, as well as turning 63 on the 17^th May the Australian national has also just been confirmed as the reappointed Director General of the WIPO, with Gurry now embarking on this his second 6 year term in the post.

 

Gurry began working for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1985 when his first role was for the Development Cooperation and External Relations Bureau for Asia and the Pacific.  Notable work by Gurry whilst at the WIPO has included the development of the WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center and the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy for which he was also responsible.

 

Gurry progressed to Assistant Director General in 1997 before taking up the position of Deputy Director General at WIPO in 2003, at which point Patents and the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) System also became a key focus.  On the 1^st October 2008 Gurry became Director General and following his success in the role he has led the WIPO in an extensive program of change to meet and manage the increased demand and rapidly changing technologies that are evolving in relation to IP.

 

Prior to his work at the WIPO Gurry studied Law at the University of Melbourne and following his graduation worked in the Supreme Court of Victoria as well as a Solicitor for a top Australian law firm.  Gurry later also worked at the University of Melbourne and the University of Dijon, and gained a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

 

The World Intellectual Property Organization has offices around the world with its Headquarters found in Geneva.  With 187 Member States the United Nations agency was founded in 1967 and provides Governments and businesses with a range of IP services from the development of global policy and infrastructure to IP protection and dispute resolution, as well as acting as a world reference source for information relating to IP.

 

Image Credit: http://bit.ly/1gJYfmt

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