Pleased to share this episode of the Penn State Dickinson Law Profiles in Leadership series, featuring Dr. Francis Gurry, former Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO.

His career offers an extraordinary perspective on the transformation of intellectual property from a specialized field into a central part of the global innovation economy. His work has spanned scholarship, trade secrets, international diplomacy, institutional leadership, treaty-making, dispute resolution, and global innovation policy.

Our conversation ranges from his early years in Australia and Cambridge to the digital revolution, the rise of Asia, and the increasingly complex relationship among technology, law, geopolitics, and international institutions.

We discuss the limits of traditional treaty-making, the creation of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, domain names and the UDRP, the Marrakesh Treaty and Accessible Books Consortium, and the importance of building practical mechanisms for international cooperation rather than relying on formal legal instruments alone.

He also reflects candidly on becoming Director General during a period of institutional and global upheaval, winning the election by a single vote, leading organizational change, navigating geopolitical pressures, and steering WIPO through the COVID-19 pandemic.

We close with a broader question that runs throughout the conversation: how institutions remain relevant when technology, economic power, and political influence are all shifting at once.

It was a privilege to explore these questions with someone who has played such a significant role in shaping the modern international intellectual property system.

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF2vfFIPNzs

Justin Kulp