WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION

(WIPO) French Organisation Mondiale de la Proprit Intellectuelle organization designed to promote the worldwide protection of both industrial property (inventions, trademarks, and designs) and copyrighted materials (literary, musical, photographic, and other artistic works). The organization was established by a convention signed in Stockholm in 1967 and came into force in 1970. It became a specialized agency of the United Nations in December 1974. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switz. The origins of WIPO can be traced to the United International Bureau for the Protection of Intellectual Property (BIRPI). BIRPI, in turn, grew out of the merger of the secretariats of the Paris Union (International Union for the Protection of Industrial Property, 1883) and the Berne Union (International Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, 1886). The policy-making body of the WIPO, its General Assembly, convenes every three years. The aims of WIPO are twofold. Through international cooperation, WIPO promotes the protection of intellectual property. Secondly, the organization supervises administrative cooperation between the Paris, Berne, and other intellectual unions regarding agreements on trademarks, patents, and protection of artistic and literary work.