Don’t Let China Oversee the World’s Patents
Picking the next head of the World Intellectual Property Organization is much more than a United Nations parlor game.
Where foxes don’t belong.
Photographer: Philippe Huguen/AFP via Getty Images
Among the many United Nations agencies, there is one that actually delivers practical value to U.S. businesses. The World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva is a one-stop shop for filing patents, saving companies from having to register in multiple countries. The system takes in over 250,000 patent applications every year, including more than 50,000 from U.S. inventors, more than any other country. Critically, all applications have to be kept secret until they are published 18 months later.
So the U.S. has a strong interest in a well-run WIPO. The trouble is, the agency covers its own budget through user fees; it doesn’t need contributions from the member countries. That might sound like a good thing, but it makes oversight harder. There is no board of directors, and the director general enjoys absolute authority. This has led to scandals over the past 10 years, from secret shipments of high-end computer equipment to North Korea and Iran, to opening satellite offices in Russia and China without permission. One member of Congress, Brad Sherman of California, compared it to the corrupt leadership of world soccer, calling WIPO “the FIFA of UN agencies.”