As countries in the Asia-Pacific region, led by the powerhouses of China and India, continue to record year upon year of economic growth, their influence in global debates will only increase. This is also true in IP: as businesses in the region move from being copiers to innovators the greater their stake will be in the health of the global IP system and the more effort they will make to get their voice heard. This was shown in Managing IP's sixth annual list of the 50 most influential people in IP, which was published in July this year and featured a record number of people from the Asia-Pacific region.

Managing IP published its first Top 50 in 2003, and it featured 11 people from the Asia-Pacific region. From 2004 to 2007 the number of influential people from Asia-Pacific remained fairly steady: 10, 10, 7 and 11. This year the number has risen to 13. While an increase of only two people does not appear to show a decisive change, the entrants are now in key positions of power: Hong Kong's Margaret Chan is in charge of the World Health Organization – now making its voice heard on the issue of IP and access to medicines; Rhonda Steele, British by birth but a resident Australian, is in the middle of a successful year as president of INTA in which she helped organized a trade mark regatta in Sydney earlier this year; and fellow Australian Francis Gurry will take charge of WIPO in September, where he faces the challenge of trying to reinvigorate a troubled institution.

In addition to that powerful triumvirate, Tian Lipu and Li Qunying have shown the difference a determined and decisive individual can make to an IP-related government department, as have India's Naresh Prasad and Kapil Sibal. India was perhaps undervalued this year, with only two entrants in the top 50. With that country's influence set to increase, the voice of Asia-Pacific countries in IP debates, though not always united, is sure to grow stronger. The list also recognizes campaigners such as Jack Chang of General Electric and, on the other side, Jon Ungphakorn, a widely respected campaigner for greater access to medicines in Thailand.

The full list of 50, which (as ever) was hard to compile, aims to recognize a diverse range of people working in IP. Readers might think of other worthy people who have been left out (please write and let us know who they are) and some might object to those who have been included. But, as in previous years, our aim has been to inform and, occasionally, provoke: no one has paid to be included and there has been no formal voting process. The first 10 people are profiled in summary, while Kapil Sibal, Francis Gurry and Li Qunying, who made into the top 10 of the full list, are looked at in more detail.

Margaret Chan Director-general, World Health Organization

Appointed in January 2007, Margaret Chan was immediately plunged into the controversy over the Thai government's decision to issue compulsory licences for a range of expensive anti-AIDS and anti-cancer drugs. After a few initial missteps, Chan has learnt to tread the fine line between the multinational pharmaceutical companies and those who believe that access to medicines can only be achieved by limiting patent rights. Chan scored an important victory when the WHO's 61st World Health Assembly passed a resolution endorsing a global strategy on public health, innovation and intellectual property. The global strategy, first drafted in 2006, outlines guidelines and incentives to address public health needs in developing countries. It includes recommendations to find new ways of financing mechanisms to incentivize R&D and to provide support to governments for R&D, initiatives to promote technology transfer and collaborations between the public and private sectors. Both the director of the access to medicines programme for Médecins San Frontières and the Biotechnology Industry Organization were optimistic about the strategy – an impressive achievement. Now Chan needs to use her diplomatic skills to put the strategy into action.

Jack Chang Senior IP counsel, Asia, GE

A regular member of Managing IP's list of the 50 most influential people, Jack Chang combines his role as senior IP counsel for General Electric in Asia with tireless work as chairman of the Quality Brands Protection Committee (QBPC), a coalition of over 180 brand owners that works with the Chinese government to try and improve IP awareness and protection in the country. QBPC has managed to rise above the fallout over the US case against China at the WTO and continues to press for reform. Chang created a 10 best cases awards ceremony to recognize the achievements of China's enforcement authorities and is now turning his attention to fight local protectionism and help the government implement its National IP Strategy. Chang and QBPC are also taking his message of working in partnership with the authorities overseas. A considerable QBPC delegation attended a summit on Innovation, Creativity and IP in Mumbai this year and forged strong links with the newly formed National Committee of IP Owners of the Confederation of Indian Industry. The two organizations signed a memorandum of understanding in May this year. If India's IP committee can do as much for IP in India as QBPC has done in China it will be further validation of Chang's strategy of building IP protection through partnership.

Gao Feng Deputy director, economic crimes investigation department, Ministry of Public Security

Few people not working directly in IP in China will have heard of Gao Feng, but he is a key figure in the long-term battle to improve IP enforcement in the country. Gao has taken the crucial step of trying to work together with multinational companies suffering from IP infringement. A series of Criminal IP Forums have taken place since April 1 2002 that have served to build trust between companies and the government officials that enforce IP and this has shown results. Jack Chang, IP counsel for General Electric, credits Feng and Wang Zhi Guang, director of the IP Crime Division, with "improving IP crime efficiency". But despite the track record of improvement, some feel that Gao could do more. "His strong defence of China's elaborate thresholds system for criminalization of IP crimes has raised eyebrows," says Joe Simone, a partner of Baker & McKenzie in Hong Kong – referring to the fact that the value of IP crime in China must pass a certain threshold before criminal cases can begin. The threshold system is at the heart of the US case against China at the WTO. As that case develops, Gao will play a crucial role in whether or not further improvements are made to the enforcement system.

Toshiaki Iimura Judge, IP High Court

Judge Iimura practises in the Third Division of the IP High Court, which is "generally recognized as giving cutting edge judgments about IP", according to Kozo Yabe, a partner of Yuasa & Hara in Tokyo. At the end of May, Iimura handed down a landmark decision that allowed Coca-Cola to register the shape of its contour bottle as a trade mark – the first such registration in Japan. The JPO, which had opposed the registration, did not appeal and the decision is likely to lead to a relaxation of the rules governing the registration of 3D trade marks. Iimura is also a part of the debate over patent litigation in Japan. In a Managing IP roundtable last year on the subject, the judge stated that the wining percentage of plaintiffs is not as low as some lawyers in Japan believe, and said that part of the reason why plaintiffs' patents are often invalidated during patent litigation in Japan is that they do not check the validity of the patents thoroughly enough before starting litigation. A former member of the Tokyo District Court, Iimura is a frequent speaker at seminars on IP infringement and enforcement worldwide.

Naresh Prasad Joint secretary, Department of Industrial Property and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry

As India's economy develops, patent and trade mark applications are likely to rise sharply. Naresh Prasad has the challenging task of ensuring that the country's IP infrastructure keeps up with the rise in demand. He has already achieved some success: Delhi's Patent and Trade Mark Office used to be so bad that, by his own admission, Prasad used to tell visiting delegations that it was closed for a holiday whenever they asked to visit; now it has a world-class facility on the outskirts of town. Similar upgrades to India's three other patent offices, along with a new training centre in Nagpur, have been announced and Prasad has helped develop long-awaited electronic patent and trade mark databases. He is also in charge of working with the TRIPs council of the WTO and WIPO, where his input was viewed as critical in finally launching the development agenda. But serious challenges remain. India's four patent offices are under increasing scrutiny, especially by NGOs campaigning for greater access to medicines, and the Chennai Patent Office last year granted Roche's patent application for valganciclovir without hearing oppositions filed by two organizations including the Delhi Network of Positive People. The arrest of an official at the trade marks registry in Chennai for corruption also caused controversy, but IP lawyers in India are confident that the right man is in place to improve the system.

Tian Lipu Commissioner, SIPO

According a report on patenting in China by Evalueserve, applications for invention patents (as opposed to unexamined utility model patents) are increasing at 20% a year. If this continues, and utility patent applications at the USPTO continue to increase by 8.7%, then China will overtake the US by 2012. At present, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) is dealing with the rise in workload with a calm efficiency and the general praise it receives for the quality of its service must be the envy of the USPTO. The commissioner, Tian Lipu, is at the heart of this success story and is widely respected for his understanding of IP issues. He worked at SIPO's forerunner, the Chinese Patent Office, from 1981 to 1988. Proposed amendments to China's Patent Law are now in front of the State Council and would increase SIPO's enforcement powers. These have been altered in drafts and it is unclear what will emerge, but some increased role is likely. The China Trade Mark Office, in contrast, is suffering from crippling backlogs and is under new management, after the departure of director-general An Qinghu. If his replacement, Li Jianchang, can have as positive an influence as Tian has had on SIPO then Li could enter the Top 50 next year.

Wang Qishan Vice-premier, China

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

After Wu Yi left her position as vice-premier in March this year, it was not immediately clear who would take over as China's primary government representative dealing with IP. But Wang Qishan has assumed responsibility for trade negotiations with the US and took ownership of the government's newly announced National IP Strategy by writing an editorial in the Wall Street Journal in June. In the editorial Wang claimed that the Strategy would "open a new chapter of IPR protection in China", and would "substantially upgrade China's capacity in IP creation, IPR usage, protection and management". He aims to do this by revising the relevant laws, strengthening judicial protection, preventing abuse and ensuring a level playing field and launching education programmes to promote awareness of IP. Wang joined the communist party in 1983 and rose quickly to become chairman of Hainan's Provincial Peoples' Congress in 2002. He became acting mayor of Beijing during the SARS crisis and held the post from 2004 to 2007. Lawyers have described Wang as a conservative likely to take a more nationalist approach to criticism of China's IP regime. This may be tested later this year when a preliminary verdict could be delivered in the US case against China at the WTO for poor IP enforcement.

General Sutanto Chief, Indonesian National Police

Chief of the Indonesian National Police since July 2005, General Sutanto is one of the most prominent government officials campaigning for greater IP protection in a jurisdiction that has long had a poor reputation for enforcement. Sutanto has stated that IP crime is a priority for him and recognized that it contributes to corruption and is controlled by organized crime. Sutanto is working with other agencies, such as the National Agency for Food and Drug Control, to combat counterfeit drugs and he also cooperates with the Malaysian police force. Brett McGuire, a consultant of Rouse & Co International in Jakarta, told Managing IP that Sutanto was the driving force behind what is believed to be the largest ever seizure of counterfeit drugs in July 2007, with an estimated resale value of $2.6 million. He has also supported a police initiative to establish optical disc facilities in Indonesia that will provide the courts with domestic evidence of DVD and software piracy and help the police to build a database tracking optical disc crime throughout the region. "These are not small achievements," says McGuire, who points out that budgets for the police at regional level cover only 40% of operational requirements and are non-existent at sectional level. IP owners in developing economies need more champions like Sutanto.

Kapil Sibal Union Minister in the Ministry of Science and Technology, India

India's innovation cheerleader

Promoting IP in India is not easy. People in the country often see IP as a threat rather than an opportunity. Scandal erupted a few months ago over alleged (and non-existent) yoga patents registered in the US, which brought back fears of how India's traditional knowledge and medicine can be "stolen" by intellectual property thieves in other countries. Add to this a long-running opposition between multinational pharmaceutical companies trying to register and enforce patents and NGOs campaigning for greater access to medicines and you have a toxic combination.

But Kapil Sibal, an experienced politician and lawyer, is happy to play that role and may, later this year, oversee the passing of a bill that he describes as "changing the whole ecosystem of R&D funding in this country". He is referring to the R&D (Protection, Utilization and Regulation of Intellectual Property) Bill, known more commonly as India's Bayh-Dole Act. Sibal told Managing IP that the bill is "absolutely ready" and he is confident that it will get through parliament during the monsoon session, which begins in August this year.

Sibal has been one of India's most vocal proponents of IP for a number of years. While in opposition he supported India's controversial Patents Act of 2005, which reintroduced product patents and brought India's law into compliance with TRIPs. He regularly delivers speeches to business groups throughout the country in which he stresses the importance of developing innovation in India, rather than relying on work off-shored by other countries. Pravin Anand, a partner of Anand & Anand, says that while there are many voices in India calling for more balance, and speaking out in favour of open-source, Sibal "has spoken out consistently in favour of strong IP".

The proposed bill seeks to encourage public sector research organizations to patent their inventions and offer them to industry for commercialization on a revenue-sharing basis. Under the draft soon to be put to parliament, the inventor receives 30% of either the licensing fee or the royalty. The institute must disclose an invention created using government money to the relevant government agency within 90 days. If it wishes to patent the invention it has a further 180 days to notify the government. If the university or research institution decides not to patent the invention, the government can then step in and do so.

The proposals have not met with universal acclaim. Calab Gabriel, a partner at K&S Partners in Gurgaon, applauds the main aim of the bill – developing partnerships between universities and private companies. But he is worried that universities might shift their priorities from fundamental research that focuses on scientific principles and rarely leads directly to patentable inventions, to research that is more likely to result in patents.

Shamnad Basheer, founder of the Spicy IP blog and a campaigner for greater openness over IP policy-making, is disappointed by the lack of transparency in the legislative process so far, and questions the wisdom of "blind legal transplants from one country to another". Sibal dismisses both points. He points out that the 30% minimum revenue level for royalties is unique to this bill, as is the fact that it encourages national research institutes to spin-off companies.

In addition to this bill, Sibal is planning other measures to try and remedy two of the biggest problems holding back innovation in India: the lack of collaboration between industry and academia and the lack of venture capital to help innovators get off the ground. He is behind an Innovation Law, announced in September last year and now being drafted by his Ministry in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. According to Sibal, this law is designed "to give incentives to innovate in the areas of science and technology and give greater freedom to the academic community".

Countering the lack of money available to businessmen wanting to set up companies based on innovation is more difficult. But Sibal has helped push through tax breaks for businesses wanting to go through the expensive process of registering their patents abroad and is also setting up a designated R&D support fund so support innovative companies trying to get off the ground.

He is also an optimist about the level of awareness of IP in India, claiming that there has already been "a big change in mindset" in India. While some argue that the academic community in India simply isn't ready for a Bayh-Dole style act, he believes that it will unleash the country's potential for innovation and could lead to a series of successful spin-off companies along the lines of Genentech and Amgen. If he is right, in a few year's time his name may be as famous among patent attorneys and lawyers as those of Senators Birch Bayh and Bob Dole.

Rhonda Steele INTA president and Asia-Pacific marketing properties manager, Mars

Breaking down barriers

Rhonda Steele began her term as president of the International Trademark Association (INTA), which comprises 5,500 trade mark owners and professionals across over 190 countries, in January 2008. As head of an organization that advocates for trade mark rights everyday and has locations in New York, Shanghai, Brussels, Geneva, Mumbai and Washington, DC, Steele represents the global trade mark community's best interests. As if that weren't enough, Steele also holds a more than full time job at Mars Incorporated, where she is marketing properties manager for the Asia-Pacific region, one of the company's five marketing properties managers worldwide who help to manage a global IP portfolio in excess of 80,000 brands and sub-brands. During a speech given at INTA's 130th Annual Meeting this past May, INTA executive director Alan Drewsen revealed that juggling the two roles has led to Steele being ranked number 11 on Australian airline Qantas's frequent flyer list.

As the first INTA president to be based in the southern hemisphere, Steele has dedicated her term to raising awareness about issues on her side of the globe, as well as in emerging markets. In a recent interview with Managing IP, she said: "I want to turn the world upside down and look at things from a different angle ... We have such a huge amount of expertise in North America and Europe – we have highly developed legal and trade mark systems, but is simply taking that experience and making it fit those southern hemisphere regions really the right way to go? I want to make sure that we have a dialogue about what's most appropriate for those parts of the world, rather than what we think might be appropriate."

In line with this goal, the theme of INTA's Annual Meeting in Berlin this year was "breaking down barriers", which Steele said also extends "to new thinking about non-traditional marks ... to the relationship of trade marks with other forms of IP, such as design rights, and moving away from strictly national trade mark regimes toward regional and treaty-based global systems such as Madrid". Steele has commented that there is a need to delve into the reasons that adoption of the Madrid Protocol has been so slow, and has conjectured that there may be "some myths out there that need to be busted, in terms of the impact of Madrid on companies and even on the profession to some extent".

Steele also has spent much of her time thus far as president fostering partnerships with other IP organizations. In March, INTA partnered for the first time with IP Australia, and efforts are underway to strengthen ties with organizations such as the Asociación Interamericana de la Propiedad Industrial (ASIPI) and the China Trademark Association. "We need to look to the future and reach out to some of these parts of the world," Steele told Managing IP. "If we want to get things done, partnering is the way to go."

Francis Gurry Deputy director-general, WIPO

A new start for WIPO

Francis Gurry's election as the next WIPO director-general in May this year promises to end a period during which the Organization became known more for gossip, malicious accusations and deceit than for any work it was doing for the benefit of either member states or IP owners.

However, it will not be easy for Gurry. For one thing, he was deputy director-general during this difficult period and will have to convince stakeholders that he is not tarred. For another, he has to respond to the fact that his victory in the election was by just one vote out of 83. Indeed, technically he fell half a vote short of the required number (half of all the votes, plus one).

Gurry was supported by a range of member states, including both developed and developing countries, and those present at the candidates' presentations said he performed strongly. But, given the closeness of the election he will have to reach out to those member states who did not vote for him, as well as to the losing candidates – such as Brazilian José Graça Aranha who fell one just vote short of winning the election.

While it is too early to say how the Australian will do that (he is not formally anointed until the WIPO General Assemblies in September) in his favour is that he brings 23 years of experience at the Organization, a strong international reputation, diplomatic skills and technical IP expertise. He is also well aware of the need to improve morale among WIPO's staff, and to address the criticisms of the Organization.

It is a tough challenge and Gurry will have to work hard to convince sceptics, especially the developing countries, that he will not ignore their views. In an interview with Managing IP earlier this he said that, if elected, he would bring "sound and balanced management of multilateral IP policy processes and administration" to the role and WIPO will be hoping he delivers that.

He also identified his four priorities for the Organization as: first, to enhance the quality and responsiveness of its services; second, enhance its skill base as a secretariat; third, focus on the technical mission; and, fourth, engage in policy issues in other areas that involve intellectual property.

That is an impressive list and there is certainly plenty of work to be done. But, despite the troubles of the past year, there are achievements he can build on. The Development Agenda was one of them. Four years after a group of developing countries urged WIPO to put development issues at the heart of its policy making, the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) held its first meeting in March this year. Gurry will have to ensure that the Agenda lives up to the hype and that some concrete progress is made. Meanwhile, the Patent Cooperation Treaty had its busiest year, with applications rising 5% in 2007, and the Mediation and Arbitration Centre has proven a popular venue for resolving domain name disputes. Rights owners would like to see such services improved and more initiatives launched if WIPO is to regain its position as the leader of IP harmonization. Otherwise, it risks fading into insignificance.

Jon Ungphakorn Campaigner and AIDS activist

Amid all the controversy surrounding the Thai government's programme of compulsory licensing of anti-AIDS and anti-cancer drugs, activist Jon Ungphakorn has remained a consistent and respected voice on the side of the NGOs. A former member of Thailand's senate, Ungphakorn began working on AIDS issues in Thailand in 1989 and is now executive secretary of the AIDS Access Foundation and a member of the board of the government's Universal Health Insurance Programme. With Mongkol Na Songkhla, the minister who initiated the programme of compulsory licences at the end of 2006 now out of office, his replacement Chaiya Sasomsap has given conflicting signals this year about where he stands on compulsory licensing, but Ungphakorn told Managing IP that further licences were "off the menu at the moment" after the minister's decision to disband all the committees looking into the issue. Nevertheless Ungphakorn remains committed to compulsory licensing, not as the only means of access to drugs, but as a last resort that needs to be there as a threat. He says that "before the Thai government took up compulsory licensing, the brand companies were never serious about price cuts" and points to a similar pattern in Brazil. Ungphakorn has earned the respect of people on the other side of the debate, one of whom says he is "a very dedicated activist and I have a lot of respect for him".

Li Qunying Director of IPR division, General Administration of Customs, China

China's Customs champion

It all started with a counterfeit book. In 1993, Li Qunying was in a bookstore in Beijing looking for publications in English to improve his language skills. He found the pirated issue of the Readers' Digest and read an article about US Customs seizing a shipment of counterfeit dolls from Taiwan. Intrigued, Li went on a trip to Brussels to attend a conference organized by the Customs Cooperation Council (the forerunner of the World Customs Organization), obtained a pamphlet on US Customs IP enforcement, had it translated and published in a Customs magazine back in China.

Two years later, after negotiations on IP protection between China and the US, China Customs committed to protect IP at the country's borders and set up a new division for IP enforcement. The editor of the Customs magazine recommended Li for the post and he was appointed as China's customs official with a specific responsibility for protecting IP.

Although enforcing IP at China's borders would seem to be one of the world's tougher jobs, given the country's reputation for producing counterfeits, Li has risen to the challenge and leads a division that has won universal praise from lawyers for responsiveness and flexibility. In October last year the World Customs Organization (WCO) gave China the Anti-Counterfeiting & Piracy Special Contribution Award while China Customs has also won numerous awards from the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition and the Quality Brands Protection Committee – a coalition of brand owners that works with the Chinese government to improve IP protection.

Li told Managing IP that he was unsurprised by the WCO award, because "China is the only country which substantially controls the export of infringing goods". China Customs is also comparatively active in enforcing IP: in 2007 ex-officio seizures accounted for 99.9% of all seizures, while seizures initiated by rights holders' actions accounted for only 0.9%.

Li is also involved in helping to crack down on counterfeit shipments internationally and is one of the members of the WCO's SECURE (Provisional Standards Employed by Customs for Uniform Rights Enforcement) mechanism, which was set up in October last year and will have another meeting later this year.

There are two main reasons for the success of Li and China Customs in general: he has made IP protection an important issue within China Customs and got right holders more involved in enforcing their rights. In May last year, in a demonstration of how seriously China now takes IP protection at the country's borders, the board of the General Administration of Customs held a special meeting solely to discuss Customs' enforcement of IP rights. In November the Board promulgated a Guidance concerning strengthening Customs' protection of IP rights. Later this year Customs is expected to update the 2004 Rules of Implementing the Regulations of People's Republic of China on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights. In particular, the amount considered reasonable for personal use will be adjusted to prevent infringers abusing this provision.

The strong relationship China Customs has with rights holders is shown by the dramatic increase in applications from IP owners to register their rights. In 2007 the GAC received 2,788 new applications – an increase of 48.3% on 2006 – a sign that rights holders have increasing confidence in the effectiveness of the system. Lawrence Wong, senior brand protection manager for Unilever in China, praised China Customs in an interview with Managing IP earlier this year, describing them as "proactive in the battle against exports of counterfeits".

Wong stressed the importance of building up a relationship with Customs and organized a series of training workshops with Customs officials in China to show them how to spot shipments of suspected counterfeit Unilever goods and to tell genuine products from fakes. Wong would like to see more done, however, including the strengthening of Customs investigation capabilities and a way of dealing with false information in Customs declaration forms.

Li is also at the heart of China Customs' efforts to educate the public about the dangers of buying counterfeits. As any person wandering round China's notorious fakes markets can see, a large number of the people buying fakes in China are tourists.

But visitors flying in to Beijing for the Olympics this summer with hopes of stocking up on fake goods during their trip will see a video on the plane that might make them think twice. In the video a couple of backpackers congratulate themselves on getting such cheap designer goods for themselves and their friends back home, only to be pulled over by a Customs official (played by a very serious looking Jackie Chan) to have their bags searched, and a lengthy lecture delivered on why it is wrong to buy fakes. Although constant pressure on China to improve its IP enforcement is likely to continue, officials such as Li provide hope that the situation could change decisively over the next few years.