Arpad Bogsch, 85; Led U.N. Intellectual Property Organization

Arpad Bogsch, 85, a Hungarian-born American who headed the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization for 24 years, died Sunday in Switzerland.

Bogsch is credited with creating the modern system for protecting such intellectual property as patents and copyrights. The cause of death was not disclosed.

“Dr. Bogsch was not only the founder of this organization, but also the crafter, the creator of the modern intellectual property system,” his successor, Kamal Idris, told the organization’s staff this week.

Bogsch began his professional career as an attorney in Budapest, Hungary.

In 1948, he moved to Paris as a legal officer for the U.N. Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

He became a legal counselor at the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, D.C., in 1954, and became a U.S. citizen five years later.

Bogsch began working for the U.N.’s intellectual property group in 1963.

He became the organization’s first deputy director in 1970, and took over as director-general three years later.

Under his guidance, it developed into an organization that greatly simplified the awarding of international protection to patents, trademarks and designs.

It also fosters negotiations on treaties and standards.