Francis Gurry elected UN patent chief

GENEVA—Francis Gurry will be the new head of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

The Australian won the election over Brazil's Jose Graca Aranha with a 42-41 vote in a poll of the agency's 83 core members.

The agency, known as WIPO, was holding early elections Tuesday for the top job because its current director-general resigned over questions about his integrity.

Kamil Idris agreed to step down a year before the end of his second term after Western governments demanded his resignation and blocked talks on the agency's future funding.

Gurry is a long-serving official at WIPO. He is credited with setting up the agency's Internet domain name mediation service.

Gurry will be confirmed by WIPO's general assembly in September.