The IP Factor

Meir Gabai served as Israel Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks from 1969 to 1974 and went on to serve in a number of other public service positions, including deputy legal counsel to the Israel Government.

Gabai had an LLB from the Hebrew University 1956, and was called to the Israel Bar in 1958. He obtained a Masters degree in Comparative Law from Columbia University in 1962.

For a formal biography (Hebrew), see http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A8_%D7%92%D7%91%D7%90%D7%99

As I was in nursery school in the UK during his term of office, I am quoting my colleague, Shimon Shalit, who knew him from his time in the patent office before joining our firm:

I was in contact with Meir Gabai for most of my active career, from 1970, almost until I left the IPO. Although his career involved him in many fields remote from IP, he retained his activity in IP matters throughout his professional life and even after formally retiring.

Having said this there is little that I know precisely about him, apart from the following: Born in Jerusalem, Meir Gabai, was born to an established Jewish Palestinian family that fled the pogrom in Hebron. He had a respect for Jewish tradition and I remember visiting when he sat Shiva.

Meir Gabai was active in the IP field for many years, both on the international scene and on the national scene. When he became Commissioner in 1969 he was already recognized as an international authority in IP, his research on Technology Transfer having published by the UN.

Gabai was one of the original signatories (on behalf of the State of Israel) on the Patent Cooperation Treaty in 1970 and was active in bringing Israel to be a contracting state in 1996. From the start, he saw the operation of the PCT as a means of saving duplication of work and particularly as a way of enabling all participants to benefit from a high quality search and examination.

Whilst Commissioner, he headed the Copyright Law Reform Committee, which eventually resulted in the present Copyright Law. After his term as Commissioner, he was promoted to Deputy Solicitor General. From there he advanced to Deputy General of Ministry of Justice and to the Commissioner of the Civil Service.

He retained his interest in IP throughout his career. For many years he headed the Patent Law Reform Committee and was active in introducing new IP legislation. In parallel, he attended international IP conferences continued to be popular as a lecturer in the field.

After retirement, apart from IP consultancy services and counseling to Bank Leumi he served as a judge in the UN (or WIPO) establishment and as a WIPO arbitrator for international disputes, ending up as President of the UN Civil Court. He was respected and he respected others, and was honest, modest and quiet.

May his memory be blessed.