Meet the new membership of WIPO Advisory Board of Judges

WIPO is honored to welcome nine distinguished judges from as many countries, who comprise the new membership of the WIPO Advisory Board of Judges for the 2023-2024 term.

The new Advisory Board will be led by Rian Kalden, Presiding Judge of the second panel of the Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and a Senior Judge of the Court of Appeal at the Hague, Netherlands, as its Chair.

Judge Kalden will be joined by the following leading judges from across the world:

• Nehad Alhusban, President, Amman Court of First Instance, Jordan
• Olayinka Faji, Justice, Federal High Court of Nigeria, Lagos, Nigeria
• Ángel Galgo Peco, President, Chamber No. 32, Court of Appeal of Madrid, Spain
• Dedar Singh Gill, High Court Judge, Supreme Court of Singapore
• Hugo Ramiro Gómez Apac, Judge, Court of Justice of the Andean Community
• Zane Pētersone, Judge, Supreme Court of Latvia
• Jimmie V. Reyna, Circuit Judge, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, United States of America
• Zhu Li, Deputy Chief Judge, Intellectual Property Court of Supreme People’s Court of China

The Advisory Board provides guidance and direction to WIPO’s work with judiciaries, ensuring that this work meaningfully serves the needs of judges across diverse judicial systems and traditions. Members of the Advisory Board serve in their personal capacity for a defined term.

WIPO is very fortunate to benefit from the invaluable support of all the judges who have generously served on the Advisory Board. In particular, WIPO is deeply thankful to the outgoing members of the Advisory Board, whose contributions have been vital in creating the WIPO Judicial Institute and establishing it as a global center for transnational judicial dialogue, capacity building and resources on IP for judiciaries.

Members of the WIPO Advisory Board of Judges for 2023-2024

Rian KALDEN (Chair of the Advisory Board)

Presiding Judge, Second Panel of the Court of Appeal, Unified Patent Court; Senior Judge, Court of Appeal, The Hague, Netherlands

Judge Rian Kalden is the Presiding Judge of the second panel of the Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court, and also a Senior Judge at the Court of Appeal of The Hague, Netherlands. In July 2018 she was appointed Judge at the Benelux Court of Justice, where appeals from decisions of the Benelux trademark offices are heard. Judge Kalden first joined the Bench in 2002, when she became a judge at the District Court of The Hague, where she joined the Patent Chamber. Prior to her judicial appointments, Judge Kalden practiced at the Amsterdam Bar. Judge Kalden graduated from Leiden University in 1989 and received a Master’s degree from the University of London in 1990. She regularly speaks at national and international conferences on patent law and related issues.

Nehad ALHUSBAN

President, Amman Court of First Instance, Jordan

Judge Nehad Alhusban has been a judge since 2000 and is currently the President of the Amman Court of First Instance, as well as a member of the Jordanian Judicial Council. As an expert and lecturer in intellectual property, she holds a PhD in criminal law from the University of Jordan, as well as a Master's in Comparative Law (LLM), from the J. Reuben Clark Law School. She earned a Master's of Laws (LLM) in Intellectual Property and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University Of Jordan, a Diploma in Law from the Judicial Institute of Jordan, and a Diploma in Small and Medium Enterprises from the Turin Institute in Italy. Judge Alhusban is also a trainer and a member of the Arab Society for Intellectual Property, member of the Moot Court Competition, and a member of numerous committees for law in Jordan.

Olayinka FAJI

Justice, Federal High Court, Lagos, Nigeria

Justice Olayinka Faji is the Administrative Judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Lagos Judicial Division. The Federal High Court is the court with exclusive original jurisdiction on IP matters in Nigeria, and in 21 years on the bench, Justice Faji has served in six states of the federation. Justice Faji’s experience spans the entire gamut of commercial law, having handled cases on the criminal and civil aspects of copyright and trademarks law. He speaks regularly at seminars and conferences on IP and has attended various IP trainings in Nigeria, Botswana, Switzerland, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom. In collaboration with WIPO and the United States Department of Justice, Justice Faji is a member of the team of experts working on an African IP Benchbook for Judges.

Ángel GALGO PECO

President, Commercial Law Section, Court of Appeal of Madrid (Audiencia Provincial de Madrid), Spain

Judge Angel Galgo Peco assumed the office of the President of Chamber No. 28, specialized in commercial matters, at the Court of Appeal of Madrid, in 2008. Since 2018, he has also served as a legally qualified member of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO). He has served as a member of the judiciary since 1989. Judge Galgo Peco regularly participates as a lecturer in activities organized by the EPO, European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), Center for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI) and the Spanish Patents and Trademarks Office. He also frequently serves as a European Union expert in the European Commission’s IPkey Project (China, Latin America and South East Asia), as well as a WIPO expert in judicial education programs.

Dedar Singh GILL

High Court Judge, Supreme Court of Singapore

Justice Dedar Singh Gill was appointed Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2018 and High Court Judge on August 1, 2020. Prior to his judicial appointment, Justice Gill held the position of Managing Director of the Intellectual Property Department at Messrs. Drew & Napier LLC. He had appeared as counsel before the High Court and Court of Appeal for major corporate clients and had established a considerable reputation for his expertise and experience in intellectual property law. Justice Gill was appointed by Chief Justice of Singapore to lead and manage the Intellectual Property (IP) list of the High Court, and to implement the recommendations submitted by the IP Dispute Resolution Framework Review Committee to review the intellectual property dispute resolution system in Singapore.

Hugo Ramiro GÓMEZ APAC

President, Court of Justice of the Andean Community

Judge Hugo Ramiro Gómez Apac is currently serving as President of the Court of Justice of the Andean Community. Prior to this role, he served in a number of roles in his native Peru, including as a Technical Secretary of the Free Competition Commission and of the Competition Defense Tribunal, as well as Vice-President of the Consumer Protection Commission of the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property of Peru. Judge Gómez also has experience as the Director of Legal Affairs in the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of Peru, as well as the President of the Board of Directors of the Agency for Environmental Assessment and Enforcement of Peru. He has taught law at various universities in Peru. Judge Gómez studied law at the National University of San Marcos, and holds a Master’s Degree in Law from the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences.

Zane PĒTERSONE

Judge, Supreme Court, Riga, Latvia

Judge Zane Pētersone currently serves on the Civil Cases Department of the Supreme Court of Latvia, having begun her judicial career in 2002. Judge Pētersone has authored several publications, and her book “Civil Remedies for Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights” was published in 2013. She regularly lectures on different areas of law, including intellectual property law, and participates in national and international drafting task groups. Judge Pētersone is the representative of Latvia in the Association of European Judges for Mediation (GEMME) and the Joint Supervisory Body of Eurojust and, since 2017, she is a member of the Circle of European Trade Mark Judges (CET-J). Judges Pētersone holds a Doctoral degree (Dr.iur.) from the University of Latvia, and participated in numerous trainings in Latvia and abroad, including conducting research on intellectual property law at the University of Oxford.

Jimmie V. REYNA

Circuit Judge, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, United States of America

Judge Jimmie V. Reyna was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 2011. Judge Reyna has authored two books, Passport to North American Trade: Rules of Origin and Customs Procedures Under the NAFTA (Shepards 1995), and The GATT Uruguay Round, A Negotiating History: Services, 1986-1992 (Kluwer 1993), and numerous articles on international trade and customs issues, as well as in other areas of law. He was the founder and senior co-editor of the Hispanic National Bar Association Journal of Law and Policy. Judge Reyna is active in educational and pro bono projects involving U.S. patent law. Judge Reyna has received numerous awards and has been recognized as among the nation’s 100 most influential Latino Leaders. In 2022, Judge Reyna received the New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association (NJIPLA)’s Jefferson Medal for his exceptional contributions to the field of intellectual property law.

Zhu LI

Deputy Chief Judge, Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People’s Court of China

Judge Zhu Li was appointed as Deputy Chief Judge of the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) in Beijing, China in June 2020. Prior to this appointment, he was a Senior Judge of the First Collegial Panel of the Intellectual Property Court and concurrently serving as a Judge of the International Commercial Court of the SPC. From 2007 to 2018, Judge Zhu served as Judge of the Third Civil Division of the SPC. He was a lecturer at Beijing University of Chemical Technology from 2006 to 2007, and has published over 40 articles in Chinese and English. Judge Zhu holds a B.A. in Law from Southwest University of Politics and Law in Chongqing, an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Intellectual Property Law from Peking University and an LL.M in Antitrust Law and Economics from George Mason University in the United States of America.

About the WIPO Judicial Institute

The WIPO Judicial Institute works with national and regional judicial authorities from around the world to create spaces for exchange of information and practices, to deliver capacity building activities, to produce in-depth resources on topics of relevance to the global judiciary, and to provide free and open access to IP-related legal knowledge to everyone through the WIPO Lex database. The Institute is a part of WIPO’s IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector, which supports Member States in developing their IP and innovation ecosystems to drive economic growth.