Making international IP law: An interview with Francis Gurry

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As the global forum for intellec tual property (IP) po licy, WIPO plays a pivotal role in

shaping the IP laws and systems which ha rness the benets of innovation and creativit y.

But achieving consen sus among 187 countries is ever more challenging. As he begin s

his second term at the helm of the Orga nization, WIPO Director General Francis Gurr y

describes how IP is bec oming a “key geopolitical issue of the 21st Century,” and the

implications he sees for inter national IP law-making.

How do you see the IP landsca pe evolving?

IP has been on a journey fro m the periphery to the ce nter of the economic system.

Many countries, including the wo rld’s four largest economies – the USA, China, Japan

and Germany – have explicitly rec ognized the central role of IP in their economic f uture.

This means that competitio n will increasingly focu s on innovation and on IP, raising

the stakes in the eld of IP. In this context, the continuing absolute neutralit y of the

WIPO secretariat is vital i n our handling of what promise to be ever-more challenging

negotiations.

Why do you think it i s becoming more difficu lt to reach international

agreements on m any issues?

This, I believe, stems from the profound chan ges resulting from the geo political shift

in the world’s economic center of gravity over the l ast 20 years. This is altering the

interests and positions of actors in internatio nal negotiations and making it increasing ly

difcult for memb er states to agree on proposed normati ve measures. We have to

accept this reality and tr y to identify opportunitie s where interests are sufciently ali gned

to permit agreement – as the me mber states were able to do in the negotiatio ns to

conclude the Beijing an d Marrakesh Treaties. I hope it will be possi ble to reach such

fruitful outcome s for the other items on our agenda. I woul d say, however, that the

nature of the current operating contex t favors the specic and mea surable over the

general and political.

What are your prior ities in the current copy right law agenda at WIPO?

First, encouraging spe edy ratication by member st ates of the Beijing Treaty on

Audiovisual Perform ances and of the Marrakes h Treaty to Facilitate Access to Pub-

lished Works for Persons Who A re Blind, Visually Impaired or Other wise Print Disabled,

which were concluded in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

The treaties WIPO administers f all into different categori es. Some set standards for

national laws, like the Beijing Treaty, which sets minimum standa rds of protection for

MAKING

INTERNATIONAL

I P L AW:

an interview with Francis Gurry

© WIPO 2009. Photo: Dhi llon