Aussie gets WIPO

By Kate McDonald
Tuesday, 23 September, 2008

IP specialist Dr Francis Gurry has been appointed director general of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a United Nations agency based in Geneva.

Gurry has been deputy director general since 2005 and has worked for the agency for over 20 years.

Gurry is now the most senior Australian in the United Nations system; the first Australian to head a United Nations specialised agency since 1992, and only the third Australian to do so.

WIPO administers the international IP system, which governs rights under patents, trade marks, designs and copyright, including the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

It also runs an arbitration and mediation centre to weed out cybersquatters under its uniform domain name dispute resolution policy.

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