UN Geneva WIPO’s DG and top layer in town

Wednesday, 6 November 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

DG Dr. Gurry to observe Intellectual Property progress in SL
Was a deputy to Late L. Kadirgamar PC in Geneva
On a three day visit to Colombo
SL’s Perm. Rep in Geneva Amb. Aryasinha also here with Dr. Gurry

The top layer of UN’s intellectual property body in Geneva, accompanied by no less than its Director General, is now in town. “This is a three day visit and it’s a great pleasure to be in Sri Lanka,” said an upbeat Dr. Francis Gurry (Director General of World Intellectual Property Organisation) on 05 November morning in Colombo.

Minister ranked WIPO DG Gurry, an Australian national, is accompanied to Colombo by several key officials of WIPO – the Lankan born Ambi Sundaram (WIPO Assistant Director General of Admin and Management in Geneva), Lankan born Ranjana Abeysekera (Director, Regional Bureau for Asia and Pacific in Geneva) and Armelle Le Theix (WIPO Geneva’s Regional Bureau of Asia and Pacific’s officer in charge of Sri Lanka Desk). Also arriving in Colombo with Dr. Gurry is Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva. “It’s a great pleasure to be in Sri Lanka,” said Gurry, who is on a three day visit to Colombo to attend a WIPO session (among others) by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. “I also want to discuss the development of intellectual property in Sri Lanka in particular and the good cooperation that exists between the Government of Sri Lanka and WIPO,” added Dr. Gurry who holds a law degree from the University of Melbourne and a Ph.D from the University of Cambridge. Previously in the 1980s, Gurry was directly working under WIPO’s first ever Director for Asia and the Pacific, the late Lakshman Kadirgamar PC. According to WIPO, it was DG Gurry who was instrumental in establishing the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre in 1994 and later, in developing the highly successful arbitration and mediation of internet domain name disputes through the ‘Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy’. World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) is the UN agency dedicated to the use of intellectual property (patents, copyright, trademarks, designs, etc.) to stimulate creativity. Apart from its well-known role in patents and copyrights, WIPO also develops the legal framework on intellectual property, builds capacities in IP and involves in highly successful arbitration and mediation of internet domain name disputes.