Interviewed in the July/August edition of Managing IP, Geoffrey Yu, who spent 25 years at WIPO, said that member countries need to show “wisdom, diplomatic tact, a sense of realism and compromise”.
He also laid out three priorities for Francis Gurry, who will take over as WIPO director-general in September this year after narrowly defeating José Graça-Aranha in a leadership election in May.
Yu believes Gurry should reinvigorate current discussions at WIPO, ensure that the Secretariat functions “better than in recent years”, and improve technical assistance programmes for developing countries.
During his time at WIPO, Yu was involved in the development agenda. He believes that WIPO should shift its emphasis in developing countries from conferences and seminars designed to raise awareness to implementing projects that will lead to more practical results.
Yu also talked about the slow pace of negotiations at international organizations and how this can lead to countries negotiating their own treaties. He said the ACTA negotiations “will send a signal to international bodies that some people can become impatient with the level of progress”.
Yu also talks about the problem of forum shopping in which some countries seek to delay negotiations on important issues such as genetic resources or access to medicines.
You can read the full interview in the July/August issue of Managing IP, available online.
