Francis Gurry

Francis Gurry, director-general of World Intellectual Property Organization [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China has made remarkable progress in IP, ranking 14th in the Global Innovation Index 2019, and Shanghai ranks 11th globally in the field of scientific and technological innovation, said Francis Gurry during the 16th Shanghai International Intellectual Property Forum.

Profile:

Francis Gurry, born in 1951, is a lawyer practicing in Australia. Gurry joined the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1985 and has held various positions in the WIPO Secretariat, including legal counsel, assistant director-general and deputy director-general.

Since Oct 1, 2008, he has served as director-general of the WIPO and secretary-general of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).

Gurry holds a law degree from the University of Melbourne and a doctorate from the University of Cambridge. He is also an honorary professor at Peking University and an honorary doctor of Renmin University of China. He was appointed honorary professor of Tongji University and East China University of Political Science and Law in 2015 and honorary professor of Fudan University in 2018.

Gurry has published a number of discourses, including Responsibility for Breach of Confidentiality Obligations published by Oxford University Press, which was adopted by the United Kingdom as a standard legal text.