Francis Gurry, director general of WIPO, recalls a news report he saw on US television station CNN after the 2016 US presidential election.
A reporter was speaking to voters who claimed millions of undocumented migrants had voted in the election. The claim is unsubstantiated, but when the journalist asked the voters how they knew they were right, Gurry says, they blindly replied: “everybody knows, it’s on the internet”.
Gurry, who departs WIPO at the end of September after 12 years in charge, is concerned at the growth of “fake news”. He describes the ease with which misinformation can spread as “one of the fundamental problems facing society”.
That Gurry is wary of how quickly information can spread will come as little surprise to those who have been following events at WIPO headquarters in Switzerland over the years.
DNA scandal
In a 2014 report of misconduct, Gurry was accused of being involved in the taking of WIPO staff members’ DNA in order to ascertain the source of critical letters about him. The report also accused Gurry of interfering to alter the outcome of a procurement process.
Some salacious headlines followed in news outlets, including technology website The Register, which opted for: “Revealed: SECRET DNA TEST SCANDAL at UN IP agency.”
In 2015, the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) ran an inquiry into the report, but its findings were not made publicly available (except to the chair of WIPO’s General Assembly and Gurry himself, in 2016).
Later in 2016, WIPO member states were provided a redacted version.
Managing IP has obtained a copy of the redacted report. It found that although there were strong indications that Gurry had a direct interest in the outcome of the DNA analysis, there was no evidence that he was involved in the taking of DNA samples.
The OIOS report did find, however, that Gurry directly influenced procurement processes so as to facilitate the award of a contract to a company (the name of which was redacted). However, the report also clarified that there was no evidence that Gurry directly or indirectly benefitted personally or financially.
The report concluded that there were reasonable grounds to conclude that Gurry’s conduct may be inconsistent with the standards expected of a WIPO staff member, and that the chair of the General Assembly should consider taking appropriate action.
The matter ended without discipline.
Managing IP does not have a position on the DNA or procurement accusations. We do, however, ask Gurry whether he was satisfied with his tenure despite the allegations.
Speaking about the DNA findings, Gurry tells Managing IP: “What do you want me to do? There is no evidence.”
The report found that there was no evidence that Gurry was involved in the taking of DNA samples or attempted to supress an investigation into that allegation.
He adds: “You have certain people running around saying this, that and the other. What’s the responsibility of someone who makes this accusation and then there is a six or 12 month process from which they can’t find anything?”
Gurry adds: “We all know that one of the fundamental problems is the problem of ‘fake news’ and the integrity of information. Anyone can put anything out there, and I see that as one of our biggest problems. I don’t think we have fully come to terms with this.”
Asked whether he would describe the DNA allegations as “fake news”, Gurry says: “You can describe it whatever way you like.
“I’m not saying don’t report allegations – fully report them – but don’t only report the allegations, also report the findings.”
Asked if he thinks there were too few media reports on the conclusion of the investigation, Gurry says: “In my view, very little. People are out there saying ‘he did this, he did that’. Okay, find out what happened.”
Despite Gurry’s claims that there was a lack of coverage on the report’s conclusions, news outlets including Bloomberg, The Sydney Morning Herald and Fox News did report on the findings, as did IP-specialist sites including IP Watch and IAM. The Register also mentioned the report’s findings.
In two separate matters not addressed in the 2014 report of misconduct, UN Security Council Committees found that WIPO did not violate UN resolutions by providing technical assistance to Iran and North Korea. However, regarding the North Korea assistance, the committee found that it “would have been advisable for WIPO to have consulted the committee earlier”.
A watershed moment
Away from the investigations, Gurry’s time at the top will be remembered for a geographical shift in IP filings.
Asia as a source of IP applications has skyrocketed, Gurry says. Last year, two thirds of international IP applications (patents, trademark and designs) – across all IP offices – were made in Asia. Last year also marked the first time that a majority of international patent applications (50.5%) were from the continent.
“Whichever way you look at it, this is extraordinary,” Gurry says. “If you go back a mere 20 years, the major innovation players were the US, Europe and [latterly] Japan. It’s a remarkably profound transformation, not just in terms of IP applications, but it could be a watershed moment in terms of world history.”
Should this trend continue, there could be profound implications – including the languages we learn, predicts Gurry.
“If you are a business owner in the UK and want to internationalise, you will want to know what rights are available to you. If more than half of international applications are coming out of Asia, they will probably be in Chinese, Japanese or Korean. How are you going to get access to that?”
He adds: “I don’t think the profundity of the change has sunk in. It’s not a natural response of the media to look at developments in Asia, but that will have to change.”
IP filings is not the only area where Asia – specifically China – is ahead. Gurry notes that both the US and China are, for the time being, more advanced than the EU when it comes to spending on and research into artificial intelligence (AI).
Gurry believes the AI debate has come at an inconvenient time for Europe.
He points to “huge investments” being poured into the potential development of a COVID-19 vaccine or therapeutic, as well as sluggish economic performances, the challenges posed by the rise of political populism, and the “genuine question” of immigration as arguably more pressing concerns.
“It might be that it is inconvenient timing to suddenly mount a massive effort in the field of AI,” he says.
Wrong questions
The subject of COVID-19 is one that Gurry does not want to get drawn into. Or rather he believes the wrong questions are being asked.
We should not, he says, be addressing the issue of access to medicine and whether IP rights should be waived. This is not because it isn’t a worthy discussion but because there is, as yet, no vaccine or therapeutic treatment to get access to.
“Much of the debate is going in the wrong direction and we have not got the sequencing quite right,” Gurry says.
“Everyone is getting excited about access, but there is nothing to have access to. Let’s focus on the real problem, which is making the vaccine or therapeutic. If we get that, then the access question arises. At the moment, we are putting the cart before the horse.”
Even if a vaccine does become available, there are no simple solutions, says Gurry.
“We need to ask what it is we mean when we talk about a vaccine becoming available. From what country and under what circumstances was it developed? Was it publicly funded? We need to know what it is that we are addressing.
“Our [WIPO’s] role as an agency is to have high-integrity discussions with our member states. It’s not our role to say ‘this is the way it should be’ – member states make the policy. We know that provisions regarding access are there internationally.”
A look back – and forward
It’s unclear what effect the DNA and wider allegations may have on Gurry’s legacy, and it is not for us to speculate.
However, despite insisting that it is not up to him to say whether he has been a successful DG or not, Gurry believes there are plenty of reasons to be positive about WIPO’s future.
A new administration building for up to 500 people and a new conference hall for nearly twice that have been built, and demand levels for WIPO’s services have doubled, he says.
He notes that there has also been a digital transformation, including the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances and the Marrakesh Treaty (to facilitate access to published works for visually impaired people).
“We have kept fees at the same level as 2008, so all this has been done without increasing the burden on members,” Gurry adds.
Gurry will be replaced by the former head of the IP Office of Singapore, Daren Tang, on October 1. Maybe now is the perfect time for an Asian national to step into the top job.
