Summer Changes Make A Splash In The IP Community

Over the summer months, people in the intellectual property world continue to circulate. UNITAID has changed heads, and other well-known figures in Geneva set off to new horizons. And no rest it seems for law offices, which maintained their usual level of moves between firms. Here is the latest on People in the IP community.

International Organisations

After 10 years at the head of innovative drug financing mechanism UNITAID, Philippe Douste-Blazy has stepped down. Douste-Blazy left his post as Chair of the UNITAID Executive Board and is running for the head of the World Health Organization.

Meanwhile, former Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim was elected as the new Chair of the UNITAID Executive Board. Amorim is currently serving on the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines.

Sarah Boulton of the United Kingdom was elected as the new UNITAID Vice-Chair and succeeds Marta Mauras from Chile. Boulton is currently responsible for UK investments in the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. In a previous role, she led the UK Multilateral Aid Review.

The new Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries (GRULAC) coordinator at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is Marcela Paiva, Counsellor at the Chilean mission in Geneva. She is expected to coordinate GRULAC until December. She follows Bernadette Butler, Minister Counsellor at the Bahamas mission.

Ahmed Abdel-Latif is now Special Assistant, Office of the Director General, at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Abdel-Latif previously was Senior Programme Manager for Innovation, Technology and Intellectual Property at the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) appointed Juergen Voegele, Senior Director at the World Bank Agriculture Global Practice, as Chair of the Council. The CGIAR System Council is a central element of CGIAR’s new governance structure. An April 2015 reform included replacing the two existing governing bodies (CGIAR Fund Council and the CGIAR Consortium Board) with the CGIAR System Council, which reviews the strategy, mission, impact and continued relevancy of the CGIAR System, establishing a single consortium office in Montpelier, France, and changing the CGIAR’s legal personality to that of an intergovernmental organisation.

CGIAR also appointed Nick Austin as its Interim Executive Director of the CGIAR System Organization. Austin, who served for seven years as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, is expected to guide the organisation until the CGIAR System Management Board appoints the Executive Director.

Selina Jackson is stepping down from her position as the World Bank Special Representative to the UN and World Trade Organization. Jos Verbee, a Dutch national, will take after Jackson from 1 August. Verbee joined the World Bank in 1992 and held various positions. His most recent post was Adviser in the Senior Vice-President’s Office for the 2030 Development Agenda, UN Relations and Partnerships.

The list of people at the World Bank Geneva office now includes:

Daniel Kull, Humanitarian Development Attaché, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, is the focal point for the World Bank Group’s global policy engagements for strengthening humanitarian-development coordination. Marcus Bartley Johns, Trade and Competitiveness Specialist, supports the World Bank Group engagement in Geneva-based trade and economic institutions. He also serves the Geneva-based coordinator for activities in support of effective implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.

Lobna Hadji, International Affairs and Partnerships Associate, supports the Special Representative in strengthening the World Bank Group high-level political, strategic, and operational partnerships with the UN and other specialized institutions in Geneva, and also supports the World Bank Group engagements, including the implementation of the 2030 Development Agenda, specifically the Sustainable Development Goals.

Kent Ranson, Senior Economist, Health, supports the World Bank Group’s work towards universal health coverage, and David Evans, Lead Economist, Health, supports the work of the World Bank Group to assist countries to develop and implement health financing strategies in the quest for universal health coverage.

Governments

A number of governments have seen changes in their representation in Geneva in recent months. For an updated list of Geneva delegates responsible for intellectual property issues, please see the IP-Watch list of IP Delegates in Geneva, to be posted this week.

 Sarang (“Sy”) Damle will serve as General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights at the United States Copyright Office, starting at the end of July, Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante announced this month. Damle has served as Deputy General Counsel since January 2015. He succeeds Jacqueline Charlesworth, who served in the General Counsel role since July 2013.

Private Sector / NGOs

Caroline Morgan will become the new CEO and Secretary General of copyright group IFRRO from 4 November 2016, following the IFRRO World Congress in Amsterdam. She will take over from Olav Stokkmo, who is retiring.

Morgan is General Manager at Copyright Agency l Viscopy in Sydney, Australia. She has been part of IFRRO and its network for a number of years and currently chairs the IFFRO Asia/Pacific Committee and the Legal Issues Forum. Morgan will start with IFRRO on 1 October, and she will have a one month’s handover with Stokkmo.

Stokkmo was Secretary General of IFRRO from 1998 until 2000, and became CEO in November 2004. He will still stay with IFRRO until the end of this year before retiring from full time employment. IFRRO President Rainer Just praised Stokkmo, saying under him, the group increased its membership to 146 members in 80 countries.

Jeffrey Cramer joined the Berkeley Research Group Global Investigations and Strategic Intelligence practice. Cramer was previously a managing director and head of the Chicago office of Kroll, a risk consulting company. Before that Cramer was Assistant United States Attorney and Senior Litigation Counsel in the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division.

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (IFIF) launched the Global Trade and Innovation Policy Alliance (GTIPA), an international network of think tanks of ten founding members that conduct evidence-based research into policies that can foster trade liberalisation, curb “innovation mercantilism” and encourage governments to proactively spur innovation and productivity.

Lawrence Haddad has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). He is expected to take office in October. Haddad is currently Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in the Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division. He is also former Director of the Institute of Development Studies.

Law Offices

James Pooley, former World Intellectual Property Organization Deputy Director General, joined Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP as Senior Counsel, in the Silicon Valley office.

Kristin Yohannan joined Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP as Special Counsel in the Litigation Department. Yohannan joins Milbank from Cadwalader in Washington DC and previously served as an Associate Solicitor in the Office of General Counsel for the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Franck Ryan, a partner at DLA Piper’s New York office, has been named United States co-chair of its Intellectual Property and Technology practice. The other co-chair is John Allcock, a partner in the firm’s San Diego and Silicon Valley offices. Ryan previously led the New York office’s Intellectual Property and Technology practice and now serves as the deputy chair of the firm’s Global Media, Sports and Entertainment sector.

Steven Park joined DLA Piper as a partner in the firm’s Intellectual Property and Technology practice in the Atlanta office. Park joins DLA Piper from Paul Hastings LLP, where he was a partner.

Quarles & Brady LLP announced that Daniel Radler will become the firm’s managing partner from 1 December. Fredrick Lautz is stepping down but will continue to support key strategic growth initiatives. Radler has been with the firm for 19 years and has served in leadership roles, including national chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group.

Cooley announced that Bobby Ghajar joined the firm as a partner in its Los Angeles office. Ghajar comes from Winthrop, Shaw & Pittman, where he was partner and head of the firm’s worldwide trademark practice.

Mika Reiner Mayer also joined Cooley as partner in the Palo Alto, California office. Reiner Mayer comes from Morrison & Foerster, where she co-founded and led the venture intellectual property group and also led the medical device patent group.

Walter Wu is also joining Cooley from Morrison & Foerster LLP with Mayer’s team of four associates and six patents agents in the firm’s patent counseling & prosecution practice.

 

Image Credits: FLickr – Vitor Antunes