The National Director of INAPI is the Chief Executive of the Agency, trustworthy employee of the President of the Republic, appointed by him. His powers and duties are set out in Article 4 of Law No. 20.254. In general terms are managing, monitoring and enforcing the objectives of National Industrial Property Institute.
Maximiliano Santa Cruz Scantlebury (1970) obtained his law degree from the Universidad de Chile and a LL.M (Master of Law) from the University of San Francisco, USA, in International Transactions and Comparative Law with a concentration on Intellectual Property and Information Technologies.
He is the National Director of INAPI since October 2009
In January 2010 he was reelected to a second term as Chair of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents. This committee, composed of more than 180 WIPO Member States and intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, is the highest instance where issues are discussed in the patent system, facilitates the coordination and provide guidance about development of patent rights on an international scale.
Before being National Director of INAPI, from January 2005 to October 2009, he worked as a counselor in the Mission of Chile to the World Trade Organization (WTO), in charge of, among others, intellectual property issues before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the WTO, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
During his employment in Geneva he acted as Second Vice-chair of the WIPO Coordination Committee (9.2005/9.2006); First Vice-chair of the WIPO Coordination Committee (9.2006/9.2007); Vice-chair of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) (5.2006/7.2007).
Since 1999 to 2004 he worked at the Economic Directorate (Direcon) of the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was in charge of intellectual property issues in Direcon, first working in the Trade Policy/WTO Department and then as the Head of the intellectual Property Unit.
He was head negotiator in intellectual property in the free trade agreements between Chile and the European Union, the European Free Trade Area (EFTA), Korea and the agreement between Chile, New Zealand, Brunei and Singapore (known as P4).
He was also negotiator in the agreement with the United States and in the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Council for Trade related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the World Trade Organization (WIPO).
He has been speaker at conferences both in Chile and abroad and has written publications on intellectual property.