Issue Of The Week: WIPO's Role In Tackling Global Crises
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GENEVA, Switzerland -- The United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization was once viewed as a technical intellectual property protection body whose decisions got the attention only of copyright holders, patent-processing lawyers and their clients. Times have changed. Last month, the Geneva-based body came under the leadership of an Australian patent attorney, Francis Gurry, with a far broader vision: to tackle global economic decline, climate change and other threats through innovation and technology using the incentives of intellectual property rights.
"Humanity has always turned to technology for solutions in the face of global threats and challenges," Gurry said in a recent interview. "So, naturally, intellectual property as a system which seeks to incentivize investments and stimulate the creation of new technology, innovation and its diffusion is very pertinent to all of these challenges." Gurry plans to create a special division devoted to issues such as climate change, desertification, access to medicines and health, biodiversity preservation and food security. The organization has advertised for a global challenges czar as well as a chief economist, reflecting a trend toward economics at intellectual property bodies such as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
"In the past, the WIPO secretariat has often been seen as a cheerleader for intellectual property owners. The hiring of chief economist is a big step toward the international leadership on intellectual property issues that WIPO should be providing," said Brian Kahin, senior fellow at the Computer & Communications Industry Association. "It is recognition of the need to understand and promote the economic goals of the system by improving how intellectual property works in the real world -- as opposed to simply amplifying the views of the most interested stakeholders."
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