New Editor-in-Chief Appointed

Intellectual Property Watch is delighted to announce the appointment of William New as its new Editor-in-Chief. William will take up the reins of Intellectual Property Watch on January 17, 2005 – and will have overall responsibility for all Intellectual Property Watch reporting as well as its strategic direction and management.

William has been on the reporting forefront of most major international intellectual property policy developments in the past decade. He comes to Intellectual Property Watch after nearly five years as a senior writer and editor for the National Journal Group in Washington, and three years as a senior reporter at Washington-based Inside U.S. Trade and managing editor of Americas Trade.

During that time, William covered developments at United Nations bodies such as the World Intellectual Property Organization, International Telecommunication Union, and UNCTAD as well as the World Trade Organization, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Hague Conference on Private International Law, and Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Coverage also included regional bodies such as the European Union, Council of Europe, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Mercosur, and the Organization of American States. William has also closely reported on the activities of the U.S. Congress and key U.S. administration agencies such as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Patent and Trademark Office, Copyright Office, State Department, and the White House. While at National Journal, he worked briefly as an editor for a former National Journal project, UN Wire, an on-line publication on the United Nations.

William’s coverage has focused on a range of global intellectual property concerns – from the realm of international trade to the promulgation and enforcement of international copyright, patent and trademark agreements. William has tracked free-trade negotiations at the bilateral, regional and multilateral levels, including North American and European bilateral deals, the Free Trade Area of the Americas and WTO negotiations. At the WTO, issues covered included enforcement and updating of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), geographical indicators, pharmaceuticals, and dispute settlement cases.

William has also followed intellectual property issues in the context of debates on information and communications technology including global Internet governance, open source, digital rights management, open source, and Internet domain names. His coverage of science issues has spanned research and development, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and open standards.

Earlier in his career, William was at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, where he managed a North American Free Trade Agreement partnership program between Canada, Mexico and the United States, and conducted outreach and marketing for the Center for Latin American Studies. Expert appearances on television and radio include CNBC, National Public Radio, and C-SPAN’s Washington Journal. William holds an M.A. in Latin American economics and politics and an M.B.A. in International Management from the University of New Mexico. He has non-native fluency in Spanish.

William can be contacted at wnew@ip-watch.org.