The International Federation of
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) today announced
the appointment of a new director of intellectual property and trade,
effective 7 December. Meanwhile, in the United States, the new
coordinator for IP enforcement has been cleared.
The new IFPMA IP and trade director is Andrew Jenner, a British
citizen and former UK Intellectual Property Office official, his last
position being head of IP Crime Policy. At the UKIPO, he helped develop
the European Union Regulation on the compulsory licensing of
pharmaceutical products for export. He has engineering and law degrees
from the University of Wales.
Jenner takes over direction of IP and trade for IFPMA from Jacques
Gorlin, a Washington lobbyist involved in the negotiation of World
Trade Organization intellectual property rules, who covered the
function for IFPMA on a temporary basis as a consultant over the past
year.
Separately, the United States Senate last week confirmed President
Obama’s nomination of Victoria Espinel as the first Intellectual
Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC).
The nomination was acclaimed by rightsholders groups like the
American Intellectual Property Law Association as “a commitment to
improving the global enforcement” of IP rights. The US Chamber of
Commerce also praised Espinel nomination saying that “the newly
confirmed US IPEC is entrusted to craft a national IP strategy.” The
Motion Picture Association of America joined the chorus of praise, as
did Microsoft. Public Knowledge also congratulated Espinel and said
they believe she “will be fair in her approach to intellectual property
enforcement issues.”
Espinel, who served as deputy assistant US Trade Representative for
intellectual property and as associate general counsel, has worked for
various major law firms, and most recently has been an industry
consultant focused on innovation and IP.
She also founded Bridging the Innovation Divide, a non-profit
foundation “focused on addressing the innovation divide,” according to the White House website.
