US Congressional Hearing On WIPO Accountability This Week

Several subcommittees of the United States Congress have scheduled a joint hearing this week on accountability and possible mistreatment of staff and whistleblowers at the UN World Intellectual Property Organization. The witness list for the hearing includes several high-level critics of WIPO Director General Francis Gurry who used to work for him. Meanwhile, observers are questioning what has happened to the report from an official UN investigation of WIPO.

The Joint Subcommittee Hearing: Establishing Accountability at the World Intellectual Property Organization: Illicit Technology Transfers, Whistleblowing, and Reform, is scheduled for Wednesday, 24 February. The hearing is expected to be publicly webcast.

Slated to testify are: James Pooley, a patent attorney who was deputy director for innovation and technology at WIPO under the current director general, Francis Gurry; Miranda Brown, former strategic adviser to Gurry; and Moncef Kateb, former president of the WIPO Staff Association. [Update: a change has been made in the witness list – Kateb will be replaced by attorney Matthew Parish, founder and managing director, Gentium Law Group, which serves as legal counsel to the WIPO Staff Council]

While in office, Pooley filed a report of misconduct [pdf] by WIPO Director General Gurry (IPW, WIPO, 7 May 2014). Pooley is an American and a veteran Silicon Valley patent attorney who joined Gurry’s senior management team in 2008 and completed his term in November 2014, after Gurry was re-elected. Among other things, Pooley’s report cited a suspected order by Gurry to collect DNA on several staff members from their offices during an investigation without their consent or knowledge.

Brown was brought in as a high-level adviser to Gurry, a fellow Australian, at the start of his first term in 2008, but she soon balked at what she saw as unacceptable practices by Gurry and later left the organisation as a whistleblower.

Kateb, the former head of the Algerian Copyright Office and long-time WIPO employee, was fired and ushered out of the building with his computer seized in September 2014 on seemingly questionable grounds on the eve of a speech to the WIPO membership in which he was expected to blast Gurry (IPW, WIPO, 22 September 2016). Kateb was a whistleblower in an investigation of WIPO and Gurry for shipping computers and other high-tech equipment to heavily sanctioned Iran and North Korea.

Where is UN Investigation Report?

A key aspect of this week’s hearing would be the outcome of a formal UN investigation of the allegations made against Gurry. But the progress of the investigation has been unusually secret. It was carried out by an office at UN headquarters in New York, the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), according to a source.

Sources say the report has been completed by now, but the results do not appear to have been circulated to member states. [Update: Sources say the report was sent to Colombian Ambassador Gabriel Duque in Geneva, who is currently chair of the WIPO General Assemblies. He is reportedly under pressure to circulate the report. Among other sources, the Fox website has reported on the issue.]

The investigation has been under extreme secrecy since it was put in the hands of the WIPO internal audit and oversight division and the small WIPO Audit Committee a year or two ago.

US Cut Funding to WIPO over Whistleblower Issues

US patent and trademark attorneys and businesses are the biggest users of WIPO, a UN agency that gets more than 90 percent of its income from fees for services. But of the remainder of its income that comes from government donations, the US State Department last September cut its contribution to WIPO’s budget by 15 percent as a statement of concern over whistleblower protections at WIPO. WIPO was the only agency worldwide sanctioned for this by State under this program.

Another Attempt for Hearing

The House Foreign Affairs subcommittees cosponsoring the hearing are: Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, and Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee tried in 2012 – ironically also a US presidential election year – to hold a similar hearing but cancelled it after claiming the people invited to speak were denied travel permission by Gurry (IPW, WIPO, 24 July 2012).

Gurry had defended his actions regarding staff travel to the committee in part by saying he would authorise appropriate people to testify at the hearing but not the ones invited (IPW, WIPO, 20 July 2012).

Now, however, none of the invited witnesses works under Gurry, and apparently have not signed “gag” orders preventing them from speaking about their time at WIPO. (Some former WIPO employees have reportedly accepted such orders as part of a buyout.)

Comments

Broadway&42 says

23/02/2016 at 12:52 pm

Fox News informs that USAState Department “trusts” the Colombian ambassador (current WIPO Chair) will do the ‘appropriate’ thing now the investigation report is finally out i.e circulate it. However it is open secret that UN governing body Chairs do what is appropriate according to the relevant Director General – in this case it means bury the report – usually in order later to be offered extremely well paid jobs for themselves or a relative.

This is just how many international organizations now operate: a malodorous symbiosis, between country representatives with little oversight from their foreign Ministries, and powerful directors general with little oversight from taxpayers paying their megasalaries. That is why Blatter was re-elected by FIFA member states days after half his management was arrested. It is why also – with all due respect to the Mr Ambassador of Colombia who has still time to prove that we are completely wrong – the only way this report will gain wider readership will be if Mr. Kerry at State and the US ambassador in Geneva demand it. Incredibly, and tragically, despite six years of nonstop scandal at WIPO, so far only US and South Korea have even opened their mouths. France, Britain Canada Switzerland etc. ? Silence.

Singh Ramkishan says

24/02/2016 at 9:57 am

Finally US is coming forward to critalize the “mis-management of Francis Gurry”. Francis Gurry is a mentally sick person. Since he took the office of Director General in Oct 2009, there is no management “just a one man show or management”.

In 2008 to become a Director General he bribed two Indian representatives, one Mr Naresh Nandan Prasad (Joint Secy, DIPP, Ministry of Commerce and Industry) and Mr Swaspawan Singh, PR and Ambassador, PMI Geneva. In June 2009, Mr Prasad was recruited as Chef de Cabinet (D2) and Mr Singh (retired on 31.12.2008) even then hired as Consultant (July 2009) to Francis Gurry DG WIPO. To become DG WIPO a candidate needs around 44 votes, voting is done by government representatives, sitting in Geneva as Ambassadors/PRS and in the ministries. These bureaucrats are bribed with plum posts in the organisation. Recruitment on higher positions like D1, D2, P5 and P4 even DDG and ADG level posts are influenced by this bribing system. It’s a high level corruption in recruitments and firing staff. Gurry has fired many staff members since 2008 to today in the name of “realignment of the organisation or for the best interest of organisation. Therefore, he managed his second term as DG WIPO (Oct 2014 – Sep 2020). He thinks no action can be taken against him and others. He finds he is is eternal until 2020).
All recruitments and fired staff between Oct 2008 till today be reviewed thoroughly. Whistleblowers and fired staff be given an opportunity to witness the mismanagement and abuse of delegated powers of Mr Gurry.

Singh says

24/02/2016 at 10:20 am

Under the charges of mismanagement, abuse of delegated powers and bribing the government representatives to win elections of DG WIPO in 2008 and 2014 Francis Gurry be impeached. Staff of WIPO hates Gurry. There is no freedom of expression and speech. Since 2008 onwards hundreds of whistleblowers (staff) are victims of Francis Gurry. Staff fired under the “strategic realignment of the organisation” and “in the interests of orgation” needs to be reviewed. For example the Recruitment of NN Prasad recently promoted as ADG…and others need to be reviewed. In the higher category, hundreds of Directors suckling huge money…70 per cent are unwanted or over staffed. No accountability!

Carlos Mazal says

06/03/2016 at 3:33 am

I was also a former WIPO official which in 2011 received an email from Francis Gurry suggesting a talk to the delegate of Ecuador (President of the Ecuadorian IP Office) to change his position on an issue that did not favor Gurry’s intentions to have a treaty approved. He asked me to “talk to the idiot from Ecuador”. When I retired I brought this to the attention of WIPO Oversight Committee which claim could not take up the case and referred me to an another UN Office in Austria in charge of an Australian investigator. I asked him to request the Australian investigator ro recuse himself since Gurry is also Australian and I was told that there was also someone from my own nationality in the staff, which I found to be disrespectful and unbecoming. I only wanted to bring to their attention that a UN senior official, DG of a Specialized Agency could not address delegates is such a rude, disrespectful manner and could not ask me to lobby a delegate to change his mind as that was not my job. In conclusion, he could not lead an UN agency. I have all the email exchanges with the so called internal UN justice system and Gurry ‘s email calling the delegate an the idiot from Ecuador. At the time, I was WIPO’s Director of the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean. Why did it take me two years to bring this issue forward? I was afraid of retaliation and preferred to keep doing my job in Latin America than being sent to an obscure post.