Shameful: WIPO Threatens Blogger With Criminal Charges For Accurately Reporting On WIPO Director's Alleged Misconduct
from the intellectual-property-and-censorship-again dept
Last fall we wrote about some surprising allegations that Francis Gurry, the director of WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organization -- a part of the UN), had surreptitiously taken DNA samples from employees while trying to determine who had sent him anonymous letters. This is the same Gurry who was already involved in highly questionable scandals involving ignoring UN sanctions against both North Korea and Iran, to send them computers, which WIPO idiotically believed those countries would use to bolster their local patent systems. Because, when you think of Iran and North Korea, I'm sure you think about their patent systems.There had been some public efforts by a few members of Congress to oppose Gurry's re-election to WIPO because of these infractions, but all that seemed for naught a couple months ago when Gurry was re-nominated. It's not final that he'll remain as director, but it's almost entirely assured. A few weeks ago, however, I saw that stories of the DNA collection had resurfaced, mainly in a blog post by noted patent lawyer and blogger Gene Quinn. While Quinn and I disagree about nearly everything patent related -- sometimes angrily -- his blog is still a worthwhile read, and this original story had caught my attention. Quinn had a copy of the "Report of Misconduct" filed by James Pooley, one of Gurry's deputies, going into much more detail on Gurry's actions with regards to the illegal DNA collection, and calling into serious question Gurry's ability to lead WIPO. You can read much more about Pooley's charges in a Fox News report. However, you can no longer read the report or Quinn's analysis of it because WIPO threatened Quinn with criminal charges for posting it.
I had actually opened Quinn's post -- and the files he posted -- back when he first put them up, but set them aside to revisit later, and like many stories I hope to get to, I never actually wrote about them. While I still had the tabs with the files opened, somewhere between then and when I restarted my browser, the files had actually gone away. The threat to Quinn, however, seems worse than the claims of DNA collection in the first place. Here is WIPO actively issuing bogus legal threats to censor someone performing journalistic endeavors reporting on factual information. Here's the letter that WIPO's lawyer sent Quinn:
I am writing to you in my capacity as Legal Counsel of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in relation to a report and its accompanying exhibits (“WIPO Deputy Director General Alleges Gurry Misconduct”) that are posted on your website IP Watchdog.This would be from the same Kwakwa who was also at the center of the computers-to-North Korea and Iran stories. Either way, the threats are ridiculous. First off, under the SPEECH Act, Quinn is completely protected from any defamation ruling for a variety of reasons. First, not only is it unclear if this was actually defamatory, merely republishing a report written by someone else is protected in the US under Section 230 of the CDA, and the SPEECH Act was written to make sure that Section 230 protections applied even against lawsuits filed in other countries for publications based in the US.
I should like to express my grave concern over the contents of this report, which is both insulting and defamatory, as it contains false statements that harm WIPO and the reputation of WIPO’s Director General, Mr. Francis Gurry.
As at Friday, April 11, 2014, we have noticed that the Report itself has been removed from the website. We are, however, very concerned to see that the annexes to the Report (the so-called “exhibits”) are still posted on your website. As you will no doubt know, the said Report and its exhibits or annexes constitute defamatory material which, inter alia, suggest corruption, concern DNA allegations, and are a republication of rehashed allegations.
In addition, I should like to remind you that under Swiss law, the publication of such false and defamatory material could constitute a criminal offence. This is, of course, without prejudice to the laws of any jurisdiction to which you may be subject.
We hereby request that you immediately remove the Report and all its exhibits or annexes from the website.
We hereby further request that you publish an apology to the Director General of WIPO for the publication of false and defamatory material on the website.
Please be informed that if this request is not immediately acceded to, the Director General and WIPO will seek independent legal advise to bring defamation proceedings against you in any competent jurisdiction.
We thank you for your anticipated cooperation.
Sincerely,
Edward Kwakwa
Legal Counsel / World Intellectual Property Organization
Second, it's quite incredible for Kwakwa to declare -- as fact -- that the content is defamatory (even suggesting that Quinn magically "knows" this is defamatory). Clearly Pooley and many others do not believe it is defamatory, and as far as I can tell, no court has ruled that the content is defamatory. And this isn't just some random person declaring that Gurry was involved in this: it's a guy who reports directly to Gurry. If it's defamatory, let Gurry take it to court and have it declared so. You don't just get to censor stuff based on one party's claim.
Third, as Intellectual Asset Magazine (linked above) notes, the whole thing -- intimidating a journalist with threats of criminal charges for merely reporting on a document that no one denied was, in fact, filed by WIPO deputy director James Pooley -- is insane:
As a journalist I find this utterly outrageous. I hope that other people do too. Quinn was not threatened with legal action for any allegations that he made, or for the slant on the story that he wrote around Pooley’s report and exhibits. Instead, he was threatened with legal action for providing a link to them.Quinn has chosen not to fight this, taking down his post and the associated documents, noting that while he believes in the First Amendment, he's currently recovering from hip replacement surgery and is in no condition to take on this sort of fight at the moment. I've seen at least two other reporters and bloggers who claim to have a copy of the report similarly refuse to post it, noting that it's not worth the legal fight.
Let’s remember, Pooley is Deputy Director of WIPO, he works with and reports to Gurry, and he has made very serious allegations. If that is not newsworthy, I do not know what is. Furthermore, as far as I know, these allegations have not been withdrawn – and certainly had not been when Kwakwa wrote the letter - neither has any investigation of them been reported, let alone concluded. Yet Kwakwa, WIPO’s legal counsel, has declared them “false and defamatory”. How does he know?
And thus WIPO has effectively censored a report on misconduct by its Director General, filed by a senior deputy. To me that's just as, if not more, incriminating than the original charges of the DNA collection. The fact that WIPO believes this is appropriate screams of a coverup from an organization that has something to hide. Perhaps it's no surprise -- given how often we've seen copyright used for censorship -- to find out that the organization that pushes for greater copyright and patent maximalism around the world is also a fan of direct intimidation and censorship of journalists.
However, it should certainly call into serious question how WIPO functions, and whether Director Gurry is the sort of person who should be leading the organization when it appears to be doing all this under his watch.
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Filed Under: defamation, edward kwakwa, francis gurry, free speech, gene quinn, intimidation, james pooley, journalism, speech act, threats, wipo
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No problem here...
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I've always wondered what the big deal is about that. People who don't want rogue nations with nuclear programs to import computers don't understand computers, or Moore's Law.
Here's a hint as to the scope of the problem: the one single computer I'm writing this response on right now has more processing power than every computer that had ever been used to run nuclear simulations at the end of the Cold War put together. If the governments of Iran or North Korea have one modern PC, there's really no point in denying them any more.
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Its all a ploy to keep the 3rd worlders in the 3rd world.
No very fair, but we have a fear mongering government... you figure it out.
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Oh please. This embargo is specifically directed at North Korea and Iran. You can export as many computers as you want to other third world countries.
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(WHO are the 'bad guys' again, i can't seem to remember...)
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Yes, it's true that computing power does increase, and a modern desktop has far more resources than room-sized equipment of the 1970s and 80s.
However, when you come to modern simulation of nuclear weapons, it's not just about making any nuclear weapon. Anyone with a decent understanding of physics and access to the right equipment and material (HE uranium, plutonium or other fissile element) could make a crude weapon. What a supercomputer or even a large cluster of high end systems can do in simulation is make far more powerful weapons possible with even smaller amounts of the materials. Exactly the kind of small amounts of those materials you might expect those countries might be able to get access to under the wrong circumstances. One desktop PC wouldn't be able to handle those types of simulations, but a cluster of thousands might.
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...unless the problem in question is copyright infringement and not defamation, in which case yes you do because the DMCA takedown system is a good idea that helps promote the progress of the Internet, right?
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Read: "any jurisdiction where we can easily convict you"
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By that reasoning, Quinn has probably broken a criminal law _somewhere_, and given how the US is the first to demand extradition, I take it he will be put on the first plane to Switzerland by US officials? No?
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Going to have to disagree with you here, Mike
First, I think it's important to understand that WIPO the organization is separate from WIPO member states. Gurry and Pooley are members of the WIPO Secretariat. Yes, they come from member states, but as members of the secretariat, they are first and foremost supposed to serve the institution. The institution exists to serve administrative and organizational needs of the member states. It is not supposed to take sides with member states.
A lot of the problems we might have with "WIPO" are actually problems with WIPO's powerful member states - the United States, the European Union, Japan, etc. Remember, WIPO also produced the Development Agenda and the Marrakesh Treaty.
In fact, a lot of US rightsholders organizations are unhappy with WIPO precisely because they think it is too biased towards developing countries (seeing as how the whole one-state one-vote deal doesn't allow the US to push its way around as easily).
IMO that is why a number of Congress critters want Gurry out. Also relevant is the fact that Pooley is an Obama appointee to WIPO. Of course, it's not clear the U.S. would like any of the other DG candidates any better. And of course a scandal at a UN agency is always good fodder for Republicans.
Sending computers to North Korea was pretty thick-headed from a PR perspective, if nothing else. But Iran is a different story. You have to remember that WIPO is UN agency. They don't have cause to treat Iran like a complete pariah just because the US does so. The same is true with Cuba.
Re: the letter, honestly it sounds to be like nothing more than a typical nastygram.
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Re: Going to have to disagree with you here, Mike
Because occupying embassies and holding accredited diplomats hostage is something the U.N. supports whole-heartedly.
Good to know.
We'll keep that in mind.
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Re: Re: Going to have to disagree with you here, Mike
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Re: Re: Re: Going to have to disagree with you here, Mike
Hamid Abutalebi.
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WIPO still shouldn't be bullying
The problem is if a blogger may have interactions with WIPO (such as a patent attorney) or otherwise be subject to non-US laws regarding defamation (assets or regular travel to Britain, for example, which has pro-Plaintiff defamation laws; or, apparently, Switzerland).
But still, bullying to censor news is bad for democracy.
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Re: Going to have to disagree with you here, Mike
A lot of the problems we might have with "WIPO" are actually problems with WIPO's powerful member states - the United States, the European Union, Japan, etc. Remember, WIPO also produced the Development Agenda and the Marrakesh Treaty.
Agree with all that -- but don't see how it changes the very questionable behavior of sending that letter and trying to censor reporting.
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WIPO the global bully
I wish the Ukraine conflict had happened a few years ago, before Russia gave in to pressure to accept WIPO to avoid US trade sanctions (which are being pressed forward now anyway).
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Re: WIPO the global bully
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Re: WIPO the global bully
The U.S. can do that just fine by itself, and it does it all the time through bilateral and regional free trade agreements. What do you think the TPP is all about? Or the Special 301 charade? Getting rid of WIPO would not reduce the U.S.'s ability to coerce on IP issues in the least.
I would prefer more IP policymaking take place at WIPO - at least it would be relatively transparent and more balanced than what is currently going on in the TPP and elsewhere.
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Re: Re: WIPO the global bully
Since when unaccountable official bodies strive for more transparency? They never do; they rather claim omniscience.
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Like many good reports that go poof
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File> Save As... or
File> Save Page As...
Three Horizontal Bars> Save Page As...
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I save everything... Contrary to popular belief... The internet does forget.
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Gene Quinn is a pussy. When is the right time to defend free speech? Boo hoo my hip surgery. Get some balls man.
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Re: Like many good reports that go poof
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Re: Like many good reports that go poof
I've used this trick once to recover and screenshot a page which had been deleted by a blogger.
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you had some good stuff, but then ruined it by wondering why the players would want to keep him...
i know NOTHING about the guy and the situation, but from a lifetime of experience, reading contemporary his story, etc, I KNOW that if he is kept around by the puppetmasters in spite of otherwise disqualifying factoids, that is because he serves their purposes quite well...
um, what' that ? ? ?
you *really* thought these public/gummint institutions are there to serve the purposes of the 99% ? ? ?
silly wabbit ! ! !
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"WIPO Deputy Director Alleges Gurry Misconduct - IP Watchdog
The senior American official at WIPO, Deputy Director General Jim Pooley, has filed a Report of Misconduct addressed to the Chairs of the General Assemblies and the Coordination Committee, describing what he claims are serious violations of national and international law by Mr. Gurry. Thus, the plot thickens ahead of the vote on May 8, 2014� Frankly, I don�t know what to think about all of this, but it seems rather safe to say that internally WIPO is an extraordinary dysfunctional mess."
The writing style seems about right ...
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Under swiss law...
Such is the power of "could".
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Who has these documents?
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Quinn has chosen not to fight?
First of all, I am totally against WIPO's actions to intimidate Gene Quinn and others from reporting on WIPO's scandals. However, isn't this the same Gene Quinn who angrily reacts whenever it's pointed out how biased and dismissive he his when others point out how much damage trademark and other IP bullies are inflicting on individuals and orgs too small or intimidated to fight back? Funny how he meekly reacts when the shoe is on the other foot.
I realize hip replacement surgery is no picnic, but has Gene ceased all legal work because of it? Perhaps, but I'm guessing that hip replacement surgery or not, Gene would have folded instead of fighting. Because as an IP atty, he knows firsthand how unreasonably expensive and risky it is for individuals and small orgs to fight back against IP bullies.
In other words, like many attys and critics of those trying to stop the proliferation of IP bullies, Gene appears to be a hypocrite. But hopefully this experience will change his and the opinions of others who protect and defend IP bullies.
But as Upton Sinclair famously said: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
Scott
scott -at- bizstarz -dot- com
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Re: Quinn has chosen not to fight?
My guess is because like many attorneys, he can't afford to pay what he gladly charges others. Plus he knows that even if he prevailed, it's unlikely he'd get back his attorneys fees. In other words, he knows that typically the only one who "wins" these types of legal battles, are the attorneys, not the clients.
Scott
scott -at- bizstarz -dot- com
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Re: Re: Quinn has chosen not to fight?
Gene's hip replacement may be a big deal, but that's not preventing him from fighting back. He immediately caved to WIPO's threats because he cannot afford to hire an attorney. But like other IP attorneys, Gene doesn't want others, especially his clients, to know that he cannot afford the same services he charges others huge sums for (he even refused to post my comments on his ipwatchdog.com article about his situation with WIPO).
Gene continues to research and write lengthy ipwatchdog.com articles, so his hip replacement recovery obviously isn't preventing him for responding to WIPO's letter. Again, it's the absurdly high cost and risks that is preventing him from fighting back.
Gene's unfortunate situation reminds me how hypocritical IP attorneys and bloggers were about the USPTO's report on trademark bullies a few years ago. Most, if not all, tried to whitewash the problem and actually claimed there are already sufficient legal remedies available to deal with IP bullies. Hmm, then why isn't Gene making use of any of these so-called legal remedies against WIPO? He isn't because they are woefully insufficient.
So while I wish Gene well in his recovery and potential battle against WIPO, I also wish he had been more forthcoming about his reasons for immediately caving in to WIPO's demands.
The best way to deal with IP bullies, is to come up with a solution that helps everyone deal with IP bullies, not just Gene because he blogs about IP law and so happens to know lots of IP attorneys who understandably want to help out one of their own.
I also doubt that Gene or any other IP attorney will be able to credibly (or nicely) challenge my take on why IP Watchdog swiftly backed down to a letter from WIPO. But you are encouraged to do so if you can do so in a way that also helps others fight back against IP bullies.
Scott
scott -at- bizstarz -dot- com
P.S. Keep up the good work techdirt!
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Re: Quinn has chosen not to fight?
The reason of course is that IP attorneys know how prohibitively expensive, risky, time-consuming, and emotionally draining it is to fight back against an IP bully - even if the facts are clearly in your favor. Plus, IP attorneys dream of landing these types of cases so they can have a cash cow of a client for many, many years. What better way to pay for their kids' law school tuition?
My non-attorney guess is that it could easily cost more than $500,000 and several stressful years for Gene to fully fight this battle. Worse yet, even if he ultimately prevailed, it's unlikely he would ever be compensated for all that time and money. Ouch!
But will any IP attorneys please estimate what you believe this case could have cost Gene had he been able to afford to fight back? Techdirt allows you to post as "Anonymous Coward," so hopefully at least one IP attorney will be noble enough to anonymously share their firsthand knowledge about the high costs of fighting back against IP bullies.
Scott
scott -at- bizstarz -dot- com
P.S. It's also quite telling and disappointing that even an "IP watchdog" is unable to defend itself against an IP bully. And doesn't Gene's decision to flee instead of fight signal that all someone has to do to get him to immediately remove content they disagree with from ipwatchdog.com, is simply have a law firm send him a threatening cease-and-desist letter? Won't that have a serious chilling effect on ipwatchdog.com and similar websites and blogs?
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Re: Quinn has chosen not to fight?
Would you agree to vigorously represent and defend me or someone else against WIPO, if we were willing to post James Pooley's "Report of Misconduct" on one of our websites?
Scott
scott -at- bizstarz -dot- com
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Re: Quinn has chosen not to fight?
And if Gene is unwilling or unable to jump on this offer, are there ANY other IP attorneys out there who will? If not, why not? The best way to defeat and discourage IP bullying, is to stand up to it. So if no IP attorneys are willing to do that, then you should stop pretending you care about this problem and bellyaching about it. Because by refusing to do anything about it, you are knowingly condoning it.
Scott
scott -at- bizstarz -dot- com
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Russia, China, Korea, will most certainly make the most use of the IP system and including IP of others, especially the US. With Gurry paying lip service to the US and holdimg Africa and Latin America in comtempt, he will have the IP system flourish in the East. He has no worries other than to make this happen and is not concerned at all (none whatsoever) of what others think of him.
On his re-election, if correctly understood, he recieved 46 votes out of 83, with the majority from Asia. No talk of criminal behaviour (DNA and procurement corruption) will sway Member States from confirming him. No matter if he has placed former girlfriends is pivitol positions, no matter that he has a very long list of contracts with 'acquaintances', no matter that they be all white Englishmen, etc.no matter that he gets a handful of staff to do his 'messy' work, which includes engaging some members states in the distasteful manipulation of the system, the system he speaks so proudly of is corrupt to the core.
Can we PLEASE have the grand ol' USA please ensure that this person does not remain as DG for another 6years!!!!
Chaos will follow his reign and it will ultimately kill true creation and innovation. Please ensure that Gurry does not get elected on the staff Council.
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Re: Re: Quinn has chosen not to fight?
Entrepreneurman, perhaps you should consider taking the red bull out of your your diet. 6 posts praising and slamming people at the same time is not an effective use of one's day.
Something to consider anyway.
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