First Candidate For WIPO Director General Post Withdraws

By William New
Just days before the election begins for the next director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the first candidate has withdrawn, according to official sources.

Mauro Masi, a former chief of staff to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2005, will return to the newly elected Berlusconi government as the secretary general of presidency of the council of ministers. Berlusconi was sworn on 8 May, according to press reports.

Masi, a Knight of the Great Cross-Italian Order, is a top intellectual property official in Italy. He is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs delegate for intellectual property in Geneva, and has a background as a professor and in communications. He was not considered one of the top candidates for the WIPO post, according to sources.

Masi’s departure leaves the list at 14 candidates for the top WIPO post. Intellectual Property Watch has now posted the presentations made by the candidates to the WIPO membership on 14 April. Click here to read.

The election will be held on 13 May, and could extend to 15 May as the WIPO members’ executive body, the Coordination Committee will hold successive votes to eliminate one or two candidates at a time, with consultations in between. About a third of the candidates hail from some part of Europe. The committee’s recommended candidate will be forwarded to the full WIPO General Assembly for approval in late September, and if approved, will take office on 1 October.

Mock Election

A practice session for the formal election was held on Friday. Regional group coordinators joined the Coordination Committee chair and others on the podium as members went through the procedures to be followed for several hours. There was a substantive turnout for the dry run, with representation from many delegations. According to a participant, some questions were addressed on the form of the ballots, and how to handle possible errors on ballots.

William New may be reached at wnew@ip-watch.ch.