About the Authors
Frederick Abbott
Education
LL.M., University of California at Berkeley, 1989
J.D., Yale Law School, 1977
B.A., University of California at Berkeley, 1974
Background
Frederick Abbott, the Edward Ball Eminent Scholar, is highly regarded for his scholarship and professional activities in international intellectual property rights and global economic issues. He is Rapporteur for the Committee on International Trade Law of the International Law Association, consultant to the UNCTAD/ICTSD Project on Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development, to the World Health Organization and the World Bank. He is on the Panel of Experts of UNCTAD’s Program on the Settlement of Disputes in International Trade, Investment and Intellectual Property. Professor Abbott serves as panelist for the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of International Economic Law (Oxford). He is former Chair of the American Society of Law Intellectual Property Interest Group and the International Law Section of the American Association of Law Schools, and former Director of the American Society of International Law Research Project on Human Rights and International Trade. He is Chair of the Intellectual Property Advisory Committee of the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics.
Professor Abbott is the author of numerous books and articles in the fields of international economic law, international intellectual property rights law, and public international law. His books include Global Pharmaceutical Policy: Ensuring Medicines for Tomorrow’s World (with Graham Dukes) (2009), International Intellectual Property in an Integrated World Economy (with Thomas Cottier and Francis Gurry) (2007), UNCTAD-ICTSD Resource Book on TRIPS and Development (Principal Consultant with Carlos Correa)(2005), The International Intellectual Property System: Commentary and Materials (with Thomas Cottier and Francis Gurry) (1999), China in the World Trading System: Defining the Principles of Engagement (1998), Public Policy and Global Technological Integration (1997), and Law and Policy of Regional Integration (1995). His book on treaty-making, Parliamentary Participation in the Making and Operation of Treaties, edited with Stefan Riesenfeld, was awarded the American Society of International Law Certificate of Merit.
Thomas Cottier
Background
Mr. Thomas Cottier, Managing Director of the World Trade Institute, is Professor of European and International Economics Law at the University of Bern and Director of the Institute of European and International Economic Law. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees, IPGRI (International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome). Mr. Cottier was educated at the Universities of Bern, Switzerland, and Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. Upon his doctorate, Mr. Cottier was a Research Fellow at the Universities of Berne and Cambridge. His research activities mainly relate to the law of WTO, external economic relations of the EU and international intellectual property.
Mr. Cottier has a long-standing involvement in GATT / WTO activities. He served on the Swiss negotiating team of the Uruguay Round from 1986 to 1993, first as Chief negotiator on dispute settlement and subsidies for Switzerland, conceptual work in the fields of services and intellectual property and legal counselling, and subsequently as Chief negotiator on TRIPs. Professor Cottier held several positions in the Swiss External Economic Affairs Department and was the Deputy-Director General of the Swiss Intellectual Property Office.
He has also served as a panellist on several GATT and WTO panels, most recently serving as Chairman of the panels dealing with the US and Canadian complaints on the measures taken by the EC with regard to Meat and Meat Products (hormone cases). Mr. Cottier joined the Baker & McKenzie law firm as Of Counsel in May 1998, advising the Firm on WTO issues.
Francis Gurry
Education
Ph.D, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1980
LL.M, University of Melbourne, Australia, 1976
LL.B,University of Melbourne, Australia, 1974
Background
Mr. Francis Gurry was appointed Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Secretary-General of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) on October 30, 2008.
Francis Gurry began his WIPO career in 1985, initially in the Development Cooperation and External Relations Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. He was instrumental in establishing the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center in 1994 and subsequently in developing the highly successful Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. He served on the WIPO top management team from 1997, initially as Assistant Director General, then from 2003 as Deputy Director General with responsibility for patents and the PCT system, the Arbitration and Mediation Center, traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources.
Before joining WIPO, Francis Gurry practiced as an attorney in Australia, and taught law at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He holds law degrees from the University of Melbourne and a Ph.D from the University of Cambridge, UK. He is the author of numerous publications and articles on intellectual property issues in international journals.
An Australian national, Francis Gurry speaks fluent English and French.
