Four candidates, including Gurry, to run for WIPO leadership

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2026

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Cookies Settings

Four candidates, including Gurry, to run for WIPO leadership

Four candidates will run for the Director General post at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), including the current Director General, Australian Francis Gurry.

The other three candidates whose names were received by the deadline at 5pm Geneva time today were Geoffrey Onyeama from Nigeria, Jüri Seilenthal from Estonia, and Alfredo Suescum from Panama.

Despite speculation from some IP professionals that WIPO deputy director general Jim Pooley of the US might be in the running, he was not on the list.

One of the candidates will be nominated in March 2014 by the WIPO Coordination Committee, made up of representatives from 83 member states. The winning candidate will then be appointed by the WIPO General assembly in May.

The selection of the director general is governed by WIPO’s procedures.

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

The Pizzeys-Griffith Hack integration was designed to create a stronger Australian IP platform but with several ex-Pizzeys principals now gone, the deal's success may depend on where clients place their trust
Thomas Lonsdale and Hsu Min Chung of HGF explore the practical impact of the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal’s decision in G1/25 and its interplay with G1/24
The firm’s recent IP hire and launch of a new robotics industry group signal an effort to capture work emerging from AI entering the physical world
Another firm sets up shop in Dallas, bringing its patent disputes capabilities to one of the US’s busiest litigation venues
Entrepreneurial IP lawyers are still launching specialist firms, but increasingly with larger teams, broader coverage and greater infrastructure than the boutique model once implied
Jevon Louis explains how Covid led to a focus on local clients, discusses why mediation is successful in Singapore and reflects on the growing demand for AI advice
An increase in instructions from domestic companies and litigation for international clients are driving success for the Chinese IP firm, according to two lead partners
Ankur Sangal said he wants his team, nearly 30-strong already, to respond to a growing demand for specialist, commercially focused IP advice in a ‘rapidly evolving’ Indian market
As AI adoption accelerates across corporate IP departments, Simon Webster, president of IP at Clarivate, argues that success will depend less on technology alone and more on data quality, workflow design, and organisational readiness
After months of speculation over his next move, former Texas patent judge Alan Albright has found a new home at the firm’s Austin office
Gift this article