Members Agree Details Of Re-Appointment Of WIPO Director General

The World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly today approved the report of a working group tasked with drafting the conditions of re-appointment of the WIPO director general, who was re-elected today.

Francis Gurry was re-elected today as the head of WIPO for a six-year period (IPW,WIPO, 8 May 2014).

The working group set up to consider the conditions of re-appointment of the director general recommended that the same conditions apply that were approved in September 2008, when Gurry was first appointed, with one modification: a cost of living raise.

The modification is as follows: “an annual inflationary adjustment in respect of the housing and representation allowances in accordance with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Geneva.”

The report [pdf] by the working group includes an indicative estimate of Gurry’s monthly remuneration at CHF 20,137 (US$ 22,900) and a draft work contract with an annual representation allowance of CHF 62,100 and a housing allowance of CHF 76,200. The annual net salary is set at the “equivalent to the highest salary payable to a Head of a Specialized Agency of the United Nations which has its headquarters in Geneva.”

Gurry is also secretary-general of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), which is housed upstairs in the WIPO building. WIPO Legal Counsel Edward Kwakwa provided a statement to the working group renouncing payment for Gurry’s function in UPOV, as has become the custom.

The statement reads as follows: “Although Mr. Gurry shall be the Acting Secretary-General of the International Union for the Protection of Plant Varieties (UPOV) on October 1, 2014 when his re-appointment as Director General of WIPO takes effect, until formal re-appointment by the Council of UPOV when it next meets, Mr Gurry wishes to already reiterate his decision to renounce receipt of his salary as Secretary-General of UPOV.”

The General Assembly, scheduled for 8-9 May, will reconvene tomorrow to address the possibility to hold a diplomatic conference to adopt a treaty on the international registration of industrial designs. Russia has offered to hold the diplomatic conference in December.

General Assembly Chair Päivi Kairamo, the Finnish ambassador, circulated a draft decision [pdf] on holding a diplomatic conference.

According to sources, consensus remained elusive during informal consultations today on the main stumbling block: how to address technical assistance, whether in an article or in a separate recommendation to the treaty.

Further informal consultations were expected to be held before the General Assembly reconvenes tomorrow.