What is WIPO? WIPO Review

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it manages 24 treaties covering various aspects of intellectual property protection (16 on industrial property, 7 on copyright, plus the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization). As of January 2021, there are 193 member states.

Brief History

WIPO's roots date back to 1883.

In 1883, the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property was born. This was the first major treaty aimed at protecting the intellectual creations of a country's citizens in other countries. These intellectual creations take the form of industrial property rights, namely: inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs. The Paris Convention came into force in 1884, when there were 14 member states, and an International Bureau was established to perform administrative tasks, such as holding member state meetings.

Copyright entered the international arena in 1886 with the signing of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. The purpose of the convention is to protect the rights of nationals of its member states internationally to control and receive remuneration for the use of their creative works. Protected works include: novels, short stories, poems, plays; songs, operas, musical works, sonatas; paintings, drawings, paintings, sculptures, and works of architecture. Like the Paris Convention, the Berne Convention also established an International Bureau to perform administrative tasks.

In 1893, the two small international bureaux merged to form an international organization called the United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property (often referred to by its French abbreviation BIRPI). This small organization, based in Berne, Switzerland, had only seven staff members at the time and was the predecessor of today's World Intellectual Property Organization.

As intellectual property became more important, the structure and format of the organization changed. In 1960, BIRPI moved from Bern to Geneva to be closer to the United Nations and other international organizations in that city.

In 1970, the Convention Creating the World Intellectual Property Organization entered into force; after institutional and administrative reforms and the creation of a Secretariat accountable to the member states, BIRPI became the World Intellectual Property Organization.

In 1974, the World Intellectual Property Organization became a specialized agency of the United Nations system, tasked with managing intellectual property matters, a mission recognized by UN member states.

In 1978, the WIPO Secretariat moved into the United Nations headquarters building.

In 1994, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center was established to provide alternative dispute resolution services to assist in resolving international commercial disputes between private parties.

In 1996, WIPO signed a cooperation agreement with the World Trade Organization (WTO), thereby expanding its role in global trade management and further demonstrating the importance of intellectual property rights.

The WIPO Academy was established in 1998 to offer comprehensive and specialized courses on intellectual property. The Academy adopts an interdisciplinary approach in its course offerings, targeting a broad audience of intellectual property practitioners.

On July 23, 2009, the World Intellectual Property Organization headquarters launched the "Access to Research for Development and Innovation" (aRDi) project, which provides free online access to specific scientific and technological journals to government intellectual property departments, universities and research institutions in less developed countries, while developing countries can use these journals at low prices.

In November 2013, the World Intellectual Property Organization launched a new database to share green technologies.

Task

• Harmonize intellectual property legislation and procedures among countries;

• Providing services for international applications for industrial property rights;

• Exchange of intellectual property information;

• Providing legal and technical assistance to developing countries and other countries;

• Facilitating the resolution of private intellectual property disputes;

• Use information technology and the Internet as tools for storing, searching and using valuable intellectual property information.

References

• 1. Introduction to WIPO: World Intellectual Property Network