WIPO Names Vivendi Executive Sylvie Forbin Of France New DDG For Copyright

The World Intellectual Property Organization director general has named Sylvie Forbin of France, a veteran diplomat and copyright industry representative, as the next head of the WIPO Copyright and Creative Industries Sector. Forbin was chosen from more than 300 applicants, according to WIPO.

Forbin is senior vice president for public and European affairs at media giant Vivendi in Paris, with a focus on intellectual property rights among other issues. Before entering the private sector in 1993, she spent a decade as a diplomat in the French Foreign Affairs Ministry. Her studies include the University Paris Sorbonne.

The appointment was made known in an official document, WO/CC/72/2 [pdf], prepared by the WIPO director general for the WIPO Coordination Committee.

The appointment is proposed to run from 18 September 2016 to the end of the director general’s term on 30 September 2020. The document states that if the director general’s term ends more than six months prior to that date, then the DDG’s term would last until six months after director general’s.

Forbin’s appointment will go before the Coordination Committee in a special session scheduled for 12 September. It is the only item on the agenda. The full WIPO membership will then meet in its annual General Assembly from 3-11 October. The annual meeting includes a meeting of the Coordination Committee as well. The Coordination Committee is a powerful member-state body that makes high-level personnel decisions, among other issues.

Europe was the one major region not represented on Director General Francis Gurry’s senior management team. For the full list see here.

France is the source of the greatest number of workers at WIPO, due mainly to proximity. The French government has been critical at times of the director general.

WIPO did not issue an announcement about Forbin’s appointment. Notice was first made public by the nonprofit group Knowledge Ecology International.

There are only four DDGs under the director general at WIPO. The DDG for Culture and Creative Industries Sector is responsible for WIPO programs on copyright and related rights and on communications.

“The sector supports the work of Member States in the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR); develops copyright infrastructure, including support to collective management organizations and national copyright offices; builds capacity in developing countries to use the copyright system to extract greater economic value from their cultural and other creative works; supports the Accessible Books Consortium; and delivers WIPO’s programs on communications,” the WIPO document states.

The document states that the appointment “is made subject to future modifications to the portfolio, at the Director General’s discretion, taking into account the evolving operational needs of the Organization and appropriate consultations with the incumbent concerned.”

The SCCR (and more broadly, WIPO as a whole) last negotiated a treaty creating exceptions to copyright to help blind and visually impaired persons get access to books. The Marrakesh Treaty, as it is known, just went into effect with the ratification of its 20 signatory nation. But the SCCR might be said to have been drifting somewhat in recent meetings (IPW, WIPO, 17 May 2016). Developed countries have been seeking to advance an agenda in the SCCR going forward that favours stronger copyright rather than further exceptions. Others have been seeking a more balanced agenda with, for instance, consideration of exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives.

From 14-23 March, the short list of six candidates were invited to a one-day assessment, and among other things, were interviewed by the director general. The list is not public.

WIPO gave some statistics on the selection process. Of the 301 applications received either from governments or directly from a call published on the website, nearly one quarter were from Western Europe (24.3 percent), followed by Africa (19.6 percent) and the Middle East (19.6 percent). Other regions were: Asia and Pacific (10.3 percent), North America (10 percent), Latin America and Caribbean (8.6 percent), and Eastern and Central Europe (7.6 percent).

Just over a quarter of the applications were from women, WIPO said.

The post was made empty in November 2015 by the sudden departure of Anne Leer (IPW, WIPO, 23 November 2016). She was said to be from the United Kingdom but is Norwegian, which is not part of the European Union. The real reason for her departure was never made public.