Ms. Louise van Greunen, admitted as Advocate of the Supreme Court of South Africa, joined the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1996. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Van Greunen was a public prosecutor in the criminal courts; lectured law; and was the Registrar of Patents, Trademarks, Copyright and Designs of South Africa. Besides administering the IP Office, she was also the Hearing Officer at the Tribunal of the Register of Trademarks, where she had the judicial competence of a single judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa.
Ms. Van Greunen joined WIPO as Senior Legal Counselor, assisting English-speaking developing countries, at their request, to adopt TRIPS compliant legislation. In 2002 she became Deputy Director of the WIPO Enforcement and Special Projects Division. In 2010 she was appointed Director of the same Division, now renamed Building Respect for IP Division.
In her capacity as Director of the Building Respect for IP Division, she is responsible for policy dialogue in the context of the WIPO Advisory Committee on Enforcement. The Division serves Member States in, inter alia, areas of legislative assistance on the implementation of Part III of the TRIPS Agreement; training and capacity building for law enforcement officials, as well as colloquia for the judiciary; public awareness; and strategic cooperation (public/public and public/private). She was also Chair of the Steering Group responsible for the hosting of the 6th Global Congress on Counterfeiting and Piracy in Paris.
