View source for World Intellectual Property Organization

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Use British English Oxford spelling|date=November 2017}}
{{Short description|Specialised agency of the United Nations}}

{{Infobox United Nations
| name         = World Intellectual Property Organization
| image        = World Intellectual Property Organization Logo.svg
| image size   = 
| caption      = 
| type         = [[List of specialized agencies of the United Nations|United Nations specialised agency]]
| acronyms     = WIPO
| head         = Director-General <br /> {{flagdeco|Australia}} [[Francis Gurry]] 
| status       = Active 
| established  = {{start date and age|1967|07|14|df=yes}}
| headquarters = [[Geneva]], [[Switzerland]]
| website      = [http://www.wipo.int/portal/en/index.html www.wipo.int]
| parent       = [[United Nations Economic and Social Council]]
| subsidiaries = 
| footnotes    = {{portal-inline|Politics|size=tiny}}
}}
[[File:WIPO3.JPG|thumb|World Intellectual Property Organization|thumb|WIPO headquarters, [[Geneva]]]]
[[File:World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) members world map.svg|thumb|WIPO members {{legend|#ff8040|Members}} {{legend|#cdc3cc|Non-members}}]]

The '''World Intellectual Property Organization''' ('''WIPO'''; {{lang-fr|Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)}}) is one of the [[list of specialized agencies of the United Nations|15 specialized agencies]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://legal.un.org/repertory/art17/english/rep_supp10_vol2_art17_3_e_advance.pdf|title=REPERTORY OF PRACTICE OF UNITED NATIONS ORGANS SUPPLEMENT No. 10 (2000-2009) - ARTICLE 17(3)|accessdate=18 September 2013|publisher=[[United Nations]]|quote=The number of specialized agencies thus rose to fifteen.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019223038/http://legal.un.org/repertory/art17/english/rep_supp10_vol2_art17_3_e_advance.pdf|archive-date=19 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ask.un.org/faq/140935|title=What are UN specialized agencies, and how many are there?|publisher=Dag Hammarskjöld Library|quote=There are currently 15 specialized agencies: ...|accessdate=11 March 2018}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|In some sources,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://research.un.org/en/docs/unsystem/sa|title=UN Specialized Agencies|publisher=Dag Hammarskjöld Library|quote=There are 17 Specialized Agencies: ...|accessdate=11 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://research.un.org/c.php?g=756034&p=5435564#s-lg-box-wrapper-20157664|title=World Bank Group|publisher=Dag Hammarskjöld Library / UN System Documentation|quote=... IBRD, IFC and IDA are Specialized Agencies of the UN ...|accessdate=11 March 2018}}</ref> the UN indicates that there are 17 specialized agencies, when counting the [[International Bank for Reconstruction and Development]] (IBRD), the [[International Finance Corporation]] (IFC), and the [[International Development Association]] (IDA), all part of the [[World Bank Group]] (WBG), as individual specialized agencies.|group=notes}} of the [[United Nations]] (UN). WIPO was created in 1967 "to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of [[intellectual property]] throughout the world".<ref>{{cite web |title=Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization signed at Stockholm on 14 July 1967, Preamble, second paragraph |url= http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/convention/trtdocs_wo029.html|publisher=Wipo.int }}</ref>

WIPO currently has 193 member states,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wipo.int/members/en/ |title=List of members states of WIPO |author=WIPO |publisher=Wipo.int |accessdate=4 March 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> administers 26 international [[treaty|treaties]],<ref>{{cite web|author=WIPO |url=http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ |title=Treaties administered by WIPO – Consulted 26 June 2013 |publisher=Wipo.int |date= |accessdate=18 October 2013}}</ref> and is headquartered in [[Geneva]], [[Switzerland]]. The current Director-General of WIPO is [[Francis Gurry]], who took office on 1 October 2008.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wipo.int/portal/en/news/2008/article_0034.html |title=Francis Gurry is appointed Director General of WIPO – News Archive 2008 |accessdate=27 September 2008 |publisher=Wipo.int}}</ref> 190 of the [[member states of the United Nations|UN member states]] as well as the [[Cook Islands]], [[Holy See]] and [[Niue]] are members of WIPO. Non-members are the states of [[Federated States of Micronesia]], [[Palau]] and [[South Sudan]]. [[State of Palestine|Palestine]] has permanent observer status.<ref>{{cite web|author=WIPO |url=http://www.wipo.int/members/en/organizations.jsp |title=Palestine WIPO status |publisher=Wipo.int |date=25 November 2011 |accessdate=18 October 2013}}</ref>

== History ==
The predecessor to WIPO was the [[United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property]] (''Bureaux Internationaux Réunis pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle'', with the [[French language|French]] [[acronym]] for "BIRPI"), which had been established in 1893 to administer the [[Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works]] and the [[Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property]].

WIPO was formally created by the [[Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization]], which entered into force on 26 April 1970.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wipo.int/ip-outreach/en/ipday/ |title=World Intellectual Property Day – 26 April |publisher=WIPO |access-date=20 April 2011}}</ref> 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<ref>{{cite web|author=WIPO |url=http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/agreement/index.html |title=Agreement between the United Nations and the World Intellectual Property Organization |publisher=Wipo.int |date= |accessdate=18 October 2013}}</ref> notes in Article 1 that WIPO is responsible

{{quote|for promoting creative intellectual activity and for facilitating the transfer of technology related to industrial property to the developing countries in order to accelerate economic, social and cultural development, subject to the competence and responsibilities of the United Nations and its organs, particularly the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, as well as of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and of other agencies within the United Nations system.}}

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.<ref>{{cite web |page=12 |title=Shabalala et al. A Citizen's Guide to WIPO |year=2007 |publisher=Ciel.org |url=http://www.ciel.org/Publications/CitizensGuide_WIPO_Oct07.pdf}}</ref>{{quote request|date=February 2012}}

Unlike other branches of the United Nations, WIPO has significant financial resources independent of the contributions from its Member States. In 2018, WIPO's revenue amounted to [[Swiss franc|CHF]] 430.6 million.<ref> https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_1050_2019.pdf </ref>  74.6% of WIPO's 2018 revenue was generated from its Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) fees.

=== 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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cptech.org/ip/wipo/genevadeclaration.html |title=Consumer Project on Technology web site, ''Geneva Declaration on the Future of the World Intellectual Property Organization'' |publisher=Cptech.org |date= |accessdate=18 October 2013}}</ref> This proposal was well supported by developing countries. The agreed "WIPO Development Agenda"<ref>{{cite web|author=WIPO |url=http://www.wipo.int/ip-development/en/agenda/recommendations.html |title=The 45 Adopted Recommendations under the WIPO Development Agenda |publisher=Wipo.int |date=6 August 2009 |accessdate=18 October 2013}}</ref> (composed of over 45 recommendations) 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 movement|Access to Knowledge]] (A2K)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cptech.org/a2k/ |title=Consumer Project on Technology web site, ''Access to Knowledge (A2K) |publisher=Cptech.org |date= |accessdate=18 October 2013}}</ref> treaty which they would like to see introduced.

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.<ref>{{cite web|author=WIPO |url=http://www.wipo.int/econ_stat/en/economics/wipr/ |title=World Intellectual Property Report |publisher=Wipo.int |date=14 November 2011 |accessdate=18 October 2013}}</ref> WIPO is also a co-publisher of the Global Innovation Index.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.globalinnovationindex.org/content.aspx?page=GII-Home|title=The Global Innovation Index 2014 – The Human Factor in Innovation|work=Global Innovation Index}}</ref>

==Information network==
WIPO has established WIPOnet, a global information network. The project seeks to link over 300 intellectual property offices (IP offices) in all WIPO Member States. In addition to providing a means of secure communication among all connected parties, WIPOnet is the foundation for WIPO's intellectual property services.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://unterm.un.org/dgaacs/unterm.nsf/WebView/30B12B9BA34FE27B852569FA0000EDC6?OpenDocument |publisher=[[United Nations Multilingual Terminology Database]]  |title=World Intellectual Property Organization |accessdate= 24 February 2008}}</ref>

==Economics and Statistics Division==
WIPO's Economics and Statistics Division gathers data on intellectual property activity worldwide and publishes statistics to the public. The Division also conducts economic analysis on how government IP and innovation policies affect economic performance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wipo.int/about-wipo/en/activities_by_unit/units/econ_stat.html|title=Economics and Statistics Division|work=wipo.int|publisher=WIPO|accessdate=1 May 2018}}</ref>

==World Intellectual Property Indicators==
{{Main|World Intellectual Property Indicators}}

[[World Intellectual Property Indicators]] is an annual report published by the WIPO, providing a wide range of indicators covering the areas of [[intellectual property]]. It draws on data from national and regional IP offices, the WIPO, the [[World Bank]], and [[UNESCO]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/wipi/index.html|title=Launch of World Intellectual Property Indicators – 2015 Edition|website=www.wipo.int}}</ref> The WIPO have published the reports annually since 2009.<ref>{{cite web |title=World Intellectual Property Indicators |url=https://www.wipo.int/publications/en/details.jsp?id=4369 |website=World Intellectual Property Organization |accessdate=8 July 2019 |year=2018}}</ref>

== Directors-General ==
{| class= "wikitable" 
|+ WIPO Directors-General<ref name="Birkbeck2016">{{cite book|last=Birkbeck|first=Carolyn Deere|title=The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): A Reference Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fcqxCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39|accessdate=24 April 2018|date=25 March 2016|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|isbn=9781785364785|page=39|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
! No. !! Term !! Name !! From
|-
| 1 || 1970–1973 || [[Georg Bodenhausen]] || {{flagcountry| NLD}}
|-
| 2 || 1973–1997 || [[Árpád Bogsch]] || {{flagcountry| USA}}
|-
| 3 || 1997–2008 || [[Kamil Idris|Kamil Eltayeb Idris]] || {{flagcountry| SDN}}
|-  style= "background:#ccffcc"
| 4 || 2008– || [[Francis Gurry]] || {{flagcountry| AUS}}
|}

== See also ==
* [[Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement]]
* [[List of parties to international copyright agreements]]
* [[Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization]]
* [[Patent]]
* [[Substantive Patent Law Treaty]] (SPLT)
* [[Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy]]
* [[United States and the United Nations]]
* [[World Intellectual Property Day]] (26 April)
* [[WIPO Lex]]
* [[:Category:World Intellectual Property Organization treaties|World Intellectual Property Organization treaties]]
* [[Intellectual property organization]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=notes}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{Official website|www.wipo.int}}
** [http://www.wipo.int/members/en/ List of member states]
{{WIPODirectorGeneral}}
{{United Nations}}
{{ECOSOC}}
{{Trademark law}}
{{US ties}}
{{Denmark ties}}
{{Armenia ties}}
{{Georgia ties}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:World Intellectual Property Organization|*]]
[[Category:International trade organizations]]
[[Category:Patent law organizations]]
[[Category:Patent offices]]
[[Category:United Nations specialized agencies]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1967]]
[[Category:United Nations organizations based in Geneva]]