People News

By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen

Antonio Berenguer of the European Commission, who was in charge of geographical indications, has left Brussels to work as trade counsellor for the European Commission delegation in Hanoi, Vietnam. He will follow issues such as Vietnam’s WTO accession process, anti-dumping duties on footwear, and the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN). He has been replaced by Antonio Fernandez-Martos, who has worked with the Commission’s directorate general on trade, focusing at least in part on geographical indications.

Pavan Kapoor has for the time being replaced Atul Kaushik as head of intellectual property issues related to the World Trade Organization at the Indian mission in Geneva. Kaushik left Geneva this summer and the Indian mission is not sure exactly when a permanent replacement will be found. Kapoor has been at the mission for one and half years and is also covering other WTO issues.

To get an indication of who some of the main players in the field of intellectual property policymaking are at the moment, you may want to take a look at a recent list of the 50 most influential people in intellectual property compiled by the magazine Managing Intellectual Property (www.managingip.com). The list, which does not reflect any ranking, includes Geneva names such as World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy; Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Kamil Idris [See photo front page]; and WIPO Deputy Director General Francis Gurry. The 50 selected few belong to five main categories: rulemakers, campaigners, strategists, enforcers and innovators. The United States leads with 19 representatives on the list, followed by the United Kingdom (7), China (4) and France (4). Overall, there are 21 from Europe, 19 from the United States, seven from Asia and two from Africa (and one patent “troll”). But the authors behind the list ensure readers that their choices are not set in stone. “Although we believe the list represents the most important trends in IP theory and practice, it is not a survey and it is not scientifically compiled. No one has paid to be included; no lobbying has taken place.”

The European Commission official, Henri Piffaut, chosen to lead Microsoft’s antitrust case, left the Commission to work instead for the consultancy firm, LECG, which has the software firm as a client. “He left on Friday 29 September on one year’s leave of absence, subject to strict conditions to avoid conflicts of interest. In particular, he and his employers have agreed that during this one year period he will have no contact with the Commission and will have no dealings with cases or companies he has been dealing with as a Commission official,” a Commission spokesperson said.

The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously for South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon to become the next UN secretary general, replacing Kofi Annan who will step down on 31 December. A formal vote by the 192-member UN General Assembly is expected to confirm the decision soon. Ban has a long career in diplomacy and international affairs, having worked in New Delhi, Vienna, Washington, DC and New York. But his job has also involved IP, especially in relation to free trade agreements (FTAs). At a signing ceremony of the Korea-Singapore FTA on 4 August 2005, Ban mentioned that the agreement was “a comprehensive agreement, covering a wide range of areas, including government procurement, intellectual property rights, e-commerce and mutual recognition.” Separately, Ban met US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meeting held in Busan, South Korea in November 2005, both in bilateral talks and together with the APEC countries. Rice said that the 20 APEC economies agreed to support US guidelines on intellectual property rights, according to usinfo.state.gov.

World Intellectual Property Organization Deputy Directors General Rita Hayes (US, copyright and related rights) and Geoffrey Yu (Singapore, development), will leave by 1 December. It is unclear what Hayes will do next. After many years at WIPO, Yu plans to return to Singapore, where he likely will return to working with the government.

Hayes, a Democrat who has served in Geneva since the Clinton administration, will be replaced by Michael Keplinger, a Republican, which is the party of President Bush. Yu is succeeded by Narenda Sabharwal (India).

There are also new assistant directors general (ADG) at WIPO, replacing two outgoing ADGs and filling one new ADG position. Ernesto Rubio (Uruguay) will continue as an ADG, while Geoffrey Onyeama of Nigeria will fill a second ADG position that has been vacant since April 2005. Officials separately confirmed the position vacated was that held by Tanzanian Khamis Suedi, who resigned last year after being linked to financial concerns. A current WIPO official from China, Wang Binying, will have her position elevated to an ADG.

During the WIPO assembly week, Moira Burnett (1955-2006) of the European Broadcasting Union passed away.

The WIPO assembly also approved 12 non-governmental and industry groups as observers to the organisation, of which at least 10 appear to be industry-oriented. The newly admitted international groups are: Arab Federation for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, European Commercial Patent Services Group, and 3D-> Trade-Human Rights-Equitable Economy (3D). The national groups are: American BioIndustry Alliance, Association romande de propriété intellectuelle, Confederation of Indian Industry, Conseil national pour la promotion de la musique traditionnelle du Congo, EXIT Centre – Information Technology Business Support Centre, Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, Japan Patent Attorneys Association, National Intellectual Property Organization, Syrian Intellectual Property Association. Only 3D and possibly the Congolese group do not appear to be focused primarily on industry and protection of IP.

Johanna von Braun is leaving her position as programme officer of intellectual property at the Geneva-based non-governmental organisation, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), to finish her PhD at Queen Mary, University of London.

ICTSD’s new programme officer is Gina Vea, who has worked as an international policy analyst, communications strategist and editor. Her experience includes serving as the editor of BRIDGES Trade Biores, assistant editor of BRIDGES Weekly, communications officer at the Earth Council Geneva, and a coordinator of Duke University’s program on global policy and governance and fellowship on global health. Before that, she was a legislative director and consultant at the California State Senate. Vea is a dual citizen of the United States and the Philippines. She completed her Master’s degree in public policy at Duke University and her Bachelor’s degree in history at the University of California, Davis.

Yuvan Beejadhur has since mid-August been working on the issues of access to medication and intellectual property rights at the Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. A national of Mauritius, Beejadhur graduated from the American University of Paris, and is a PhD candidate at the Sorbonne University.

Viviana Tellez Munoz has joined the South Centre Innovation, Access to Knowledge and Intellectual Property Programme team as a programme officer. Until June 2006, Munoz was an Economic and Social Research Council research assistant on the Research Project on NGOs, Intellectual Property Rights and Multilateral Institutions at the Queen Mary Intellectual Property Institute in London. She holds a Masters of Science degree in Development Management from the London School of Economics and a Bachelors of Arts degree in International Relations from the El Rosario University in Bogotá.

The following people have recently joined the Washington-based non-governmental organisation, the Consumer Project on Technology: Ruth Trombka, director, development and management; Julie Patel, research associate on access to medicine and website manager; Ben Krohmal, research associate; and Malini Aisola, research assistant and event planner.

David Unterhalter of South Africa has replaced John Lockhart as a member of the World Trade Organization’s seven-member Appellate Body. Lockhart passed away in January, and Unterhalter will serve for the remainder of his period, which ends on 11 December 2009.

John Veroneau has been appointed deputy United States Trade Representative. He will join Geneva-based World Trade Organization representative Peter Allgeier and Asia and Africa issues supervisor Karan Bhatia as USTR Susan Schwab’s top policy advisors. From 2003 to 2005 Veroneau served as the USTR’s general counsel.

Three new members have been appointed to the US Patent Public Advisory Committee: Kevin Rivette, Douglas Patton and David Westergard. Rivette is vice president of intellectual property strategy with IBM; Patton is an entrepreneur and inventor who recently won first prize in the US television show “American Inventor” for a car seat for children; and Westergard is director of patent licensing and European litigation for Micron Technology. Three new members also have been appointed to the Trademark Public Advisory Committee: Jeffrey Samuels, Jacqueline Alvarado Leimer and Lorelei Ritchie de Larena. Samuels is director of the Center for Intellectual Law and Technology at the University of Akron; Leimer serves as vice president and associate general counsel for IP for Kraft Foods; and de Larena is currently associate professor at Florida State Law School. All the new appointees will serve three-year terms and will advise the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and director of the USPTO.

The US Homeland Security Department has appointed Greg Garcia assistant secretary for cyber security and telecommunications. Part of his job, which was been vacant since it was created in July 2005, will be to oversee the department’s National Cyber Security Division.

Kåre Bryn from Norway has replaced William Rossier of Switzerland as secretary general of the European Free Trade Association, which includes Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Sacha Kumaria has left the UK-based free market think thank the Stockholm Network after three years to join BP (British Petroleum).

Johannes Bob van Benthem, first president of the European Patent Office (EPO), passed away in The Hague on 11 September at the age of 85, according to the EPO. “One of the prophets and pioneers of patenting in Europe, he was instrumental in establishing the European patent system and founding the European Patent Office. He was the EPO’s president for seven and a half years, from its opening in 1977 until 1985. The introduction of a centralised procedure for the granting of high-quality European patents was one of his many achievements,” the EPO said.