THE WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION
The following information was adapted from the Internet home page
of the World Intellectual Property Organization at
http://www.wipo.org. Please check this site for up-to-date
information on WIPO.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an
international organization dedicated to helping ensure that the
rights of creators and owners of intellectual property are
protected worldwide and that inventors and authors are, thus,
recognized and rewarded for their ingenuity.
The roots of the World Intellectual Property Organization go back
to 1833. That year marked the birth of the Paris Convention for
the Protection of Industrial Property, the first major
international treaty designed to help people of one country
obtain protection in other countries for their intellectual
creations in the form of industrial property rights.
The Paris Convention entered into force in 1884 with 14 member
states, which set up an International Bureau to carry out
administrative tasks.
In 1886, copyright entered the international arena with the Berne
Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
Like the Paris Convention, the Berne Convention set up an
International Bureau to carry out administrative tasks.
In 1893, these two small bureaus united to form an international
organization called the United International Bureaux for the
Protection of Intellectual Property (best known by its French
acronym, BIRPI). Based in Berne, Switzerland, with a staff of
seven, this small organization was the predecessor of the World
Intellectual Property Organization of today
a dynamic entity
with more than 170 member states and a staff that includes some
650 people from around the world.
As the importance of intellectual property grew, the structure
and form of the organization changed as well. In 1960, BIRPI
moved from Berne to Geneva to be closer to the United Nations and
other international organizations in that city. A decade later,
following the entry into force of the Convention Establishing the
World Intellectual Property Organization, BIRPI became WIPO,
undergoing structural and administrative reforms and acquiring a
secretariat answerable to the member states.
In 1974, WIPO became a specialized agency of the United Nations
system of organizations, with a mandate to administer
intellectual property matters recognized by the member states of
the UN. WIPO expanded its role and further demonstrated the
importance of intellectual property rights in the management of
globalized trade in 1996 by entering into a cooperative agreement
with the World Trade Organization.
In 1898, BIRPI administered only four international treaties. A
century later, WIPO administers 21 treaties (two of those jointly
with other international organizations) and carries out a rich
and varied program of work. Through its member states and
secretariat, WIPO seeks to:
Harmonize national intellectual property legislation and
procedures.
Provide services for international applications for
industrial property rights.
Exchange intellectual property information.
Provide legal and technical assistance to developing and
other countries.
Facilitate the resolution of private intellectual property
disputes.
Marshal information technology as a tool for storing,
accessing, and using valuable intellectual property information.
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