Lawmakers press UN agency over tech shipments

Two lawmakers are angrily reacting to what they say is a lack of cooperation from a U.N. agency that may have sent computers and other technology to Iran and North Korea in possible violation of U.N. Security Council sanctions.

Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Howard Berman sent a letter to Francis Gurry, director general of the U.N. World Intellectual Property Organization, saying they were outraged by his refusal to a State Department request for an independent investigation.

Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican, and Berman, a Democrat, head the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The panel is investigating the organization, which has insisted it did nothing wrong in providing "standard IT equipment" to the patent and trademark offices in the two countries. The 185-member organization focuses on patents, copyright, trademarks and designs.