World Intellectual Property Organization
The World Intellectual Property Organization is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations. Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO was created to promote and protect intellectual property across the world by cooperating with countries as well as international organizations. It began operations on 26 April 1970 when the convention entered into force. The current Director General is Singaporean Daren Tang, former head of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, who began his term on 1 October 2020.
WIPO's activities include: hosting forums to discuss and shape international IP rules and policies, providing global services that register and protect IP in different countries, resolving transboundary IP disputes, helping connect IP systems through uniform standards and infrastructure, and serving as a general reference database on all IP matters; this includes providing reports and statistics on the state of IP protection or innovation both globally and in specific countries. WIPO also works with governments, nongovernmental organizations, and individuals to utilize IP for socioeconomic development.
WIPO administers 26 international treaties that concern a wide variety of intellectual property issues, ranging from the protection of audiovisual works to establishing international patent classification. It is governed by the General Assembly and the Coordination Committee, which together set policy and serve as the main decision making bodies. The General Assembly also elects WIPO's chief administrator, the Director General, currently Daren Tang of Singapore, who took office on 1 October 2020. WIPO is administered by a Secretariat that helps carry out its day-to-day activities.
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, WIPO has "external offices" around the world, including in Algiers ; Rio de Janeiro ; Beijing, Tokyo ; Abuja ; Moscow ; and Singapore. Unlike most UN organizations, WIPO does not rely heavily on assessed or voluntary contributions from member states; 95 percent of its budget comes from fees related to its global services.
WIPO currently has 194 member states, including 190 UN member states and the Cook Islands, Holy See and Niue; Palestine has permanent observer status. The only non-members, among the countries recognized by the UN are Palau and South Sudan.
History
Pre BIRPI
1883 – Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property was adopted in 1883 and was one of the first intellectual property treaties. It established a Union for the protection of industrial property. Additionally, it applies to a wide range of industrial property including patents, trademarks, utility models, industrial designs, trade names, service marks, geographical indications as well as the "repression of unfair competition". The Paris Convention was the first international agreement to protect the works of creators in other countries.Moving on, the Convention was adopted in diplomatic conferences held in Paris in 1880 and 1883, it was then signed on 20 March 1883, on behalf of Brazil, France, Guatemala, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland, Belgium, Italy and El Salvador. It consisted of the Convention proper, which contains 19 articles, and the Protocole de clôture, which is almost the same length as the Convention proper.
The "International Bureau" established by the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property later became part of BIRPI and later WIPO.
1886 – Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
The Berne Convention was adopted in 1886, it deals with copyright, the protection of works and rights of authors and rights holders. It provides creators including writers, poets, painters, musicians with ways to control how and by who their works are used and the terms of use. It also contains provisions on minimum protections and special provisions for developing countries. The Convention follows three basic principles; that works originating in one of the Contracting States must be given the same protection in each of the other Contracting States, that there is automatic protection and no formal process is required and that protection under the convention is independent of protection in the country of origin of the work. The "International Bureau" was created to oversee the Berne Convention and later became part of BIRPI and later WIPO.1891 – Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks
In 1891 nine of the 14 States to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property created the first "special arrangements for the protection of industrial property". Along with the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement it created the Madrid System, the primary international system for facilitating the registration of trademarks in multiple jurisdictions around the world.BIRPI
The Bureaus created to administer the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property were under "the high supervision" of the Government of the Swiss Confederation. In 1893 the Swiss government combined them with the same director and same staff as United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property, Bureaux internationaux réunis pour la protection de la propriété intellectuelle. BIRPI was the predecessor of the World Intellectual Property Organization which superseded it 87 years later, in 1970.Formation of WIPO
WIPO was formally created by the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, which entered into force on 26 April 1970. WIPO allowed members who were part of the Berne Convention, Paris Convention or a member of the United Nations system including the United Nations, any of its specialized agencies, the International Atomic Energy Agency or the International Court of Justice.That date is commemorated annually as World Intellectual Property Day, which raises awareness of the importance of IP. Under Article 3 of this convention, WIPO seeks to "promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world". WIPO became a specialized agency of the UN in 1974. The Agreement between the United Nations and the World Intellectual Property Organization notes in Article 1 that WIPO is responsible:
The Agreement marked a transition for WIPO from the mandate it inherited in 1967 from BIRPI, to promote the protection of intellectual property, to one that involved the more complex task of promoting technology transfer and economic development.
WIPO joining the United Nations
In 1974 WIPO became a specialized agency of the United Nations through a bilateral agreement between WIPO and the UN approved by the General Assembly of WIPO on 27 September 1974, and by the UN General Assembly on 17 December 1974. A protocol was signed by then Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim and then Director General of WIPO Árpád Bogsch on 21 January 1975. The Agreement became effective on 17 December 1974.The relative importance of WIPO in global IP governance decreased after the United States incorporated intellectual property matters into the Uruguay Round of the GATT Negotiations in the 1980s.
WIPO Development agenda
In October 2004, WIPO agreed to adopt a proposal offered by Argentina and Brazil, the "Proposal for the Establishment of a Development Agenda for WIPO"—from the Geneva Declaration on the Future of the World Intellectual Property Organization. This proposal was well supported by developing countries. The agreed "WIPO Development Agenda" was the culmination of a long process of transformation for the organization from one that had historically been primarily aimed at protecting the interests of rightholders, to one that has increasingly incorporated the interests of other stakeholders in the international intellectual property system as well as integrating into the broader corpus of international law on human rights, environment and economic cooperation.A number of civil society bodies have been working on a draft Access to Knowledge treaty which they would like to see introduced.
In 2009, WIPO started drafting future treaties on intellectual property and genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore in relation with indigenous peoples and local communities.
In December 2011, WIPO published its first World Intellectual Property Report on the Changing Face of Innovation, the first such report of the new Office of the Chief Economist. WIPO is also a co-publisher of the Global Innovation Index.
Recent events
In 2016, WIPO initiated the High-Level Conference on Intellectual Property for BRI Countries. WIPO Director General Francis Gurry encouraged countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative to use WIPO tools like its global IP services and databases and to join WIPO-administered IP treaties.In September 2020 China blocked the Wikimedia Foundation from observer status at WIPO citing the existence of a Wikimedia affiliate in Taiwan. According to the Chinese statement "there is reason to believe that this foundation has been carrying out political activities through its member organizations which could undermine the state's sovereignty and territorial integrity." China again rejected Wikimedia's bid, for the same reason, in 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
WIPO, the World Health Organization and the WTO launched on 11 April 2022 their new Trilateral COVID-19 Technical Assistance Platform. This new tool aims to help members and WTO accession candidates address their capacity building needs to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Platform provides members and accession candidates with a single contact form which they can use to reach out to the trilateral organizations.