WIPO Director General Election: 2014

Member states of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization, the global body for international IP policy issues, will vote on 6 March for the next WIPO director general for six years.

The Candidates (all men, in order of nomination):

Francis Gurry has been WIPO director general since 2008, and is a renowned patent expert with nearly three decades of experience at WIPO, having joined in 1985. He oversaw the creation of WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre and was formerly legal counsel and deputy director general responsible for patents. He previously studied in Australia and the UK, and practiced law in Australia.

Geoffrey Onyeama, from Nigeria, is WIPO deputy director general responsible for development, who also joined WIPO in 1985 and has previously overseen Africa issues, and external and industry affairs. He studied in the US and UK, and previously practiced law in Nigeria.

Alfredo Suescum, from Panama, is ambassador to the World Trade Organization and has chaired the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). He has served in government for more than two decades and also has private sector experience and did all of his studies in the United States.

Jüri Seilenthal, from Estonia, is ambassador to the United Nations and other organisations in Geneva, and former chair of the WIPO Coordination Committee, and of the Trade and Development Board of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). He also has been active in the International Telecommunication Union and on UN human rights issues.