WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION (WIPO)

Date: 11 November, 2020

by Rutuja Raghushe

What is WIPO?

WIPO was established in 1967 and entered into force in 1970 "to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world".
The origins of WIPO return to 1883 and 1886 when the Paris Convention for the Protection of Commercial Property and therefore the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, respectively, were concluded.
Both Conventions provided for the establishment of an "International Bureau". The two bureaus were united in 1893 and, in 1970, were replaced by the World Intellectual Property Organization, by virtue of the WIPO Convention.
It is a specialised agency of the United Nations (UN) system of organisation.
The origins of WIPO go back to 1883 and 1886, with the adoption of the Paris Convention and Berne Convention respectively.
WIPO administers 26 international treaties including WIPO Convention.
Every year 26th April is seen as World Intellectual Property Day. WIPO Convention, the constituent instrument of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), was signed at Stockholm on July 14, 1967, entered into force in 1970 and was amended in 1979.
WIPO is devoted to developing a balanced and accessible international property (IP) system, which rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and contributes to economic development while safeguarding the general public interest.’

WIPO's two main objectives are-

(i) to promote the protection of intellectual property worldwide; and

(ii) to ensure administrative cooperation among the intellectual property Unions established by the treaties that WIPO administers.

FUNCTIONS OF WIPO-

To assist the event of campaigns that improve IP Protection everywhere the world and keep the national legislations consonant.
Signing international agreements associated with Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection.
To implement administrative functions discussed by the Berne and Paris Conventions.
To render legal and technical assistance within the field of IP.
To conduct research and publish its results further on collect and circulate information.
To make sure the work of services that facilitate the International Intellectual Property Protection.
To implement other appropriate and necessary actions.

MEMBERSHIP

WIPO presently has 193 member states. All member states of the world organisation are entitled, though not duty-bound, to become members of the specialised agencies like WIPO.
188 of world organisation member states like Cook Islands, Holy Sea and Niue are members of WIPO. Palestine has permanent observer status.
Approximately 250 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) have official observers standing at WIPO conferences.
India joined WIPO in 1975.

GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX-

Recently, the global innovation index 2020 was released by World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) –

Switzerland, Sweden, U.S., U.K and Netherlands lead the innovation ranking, with a second Asian financial framework - the Republic of Korea - joining zenith 10 for the essential time (Singapore is number 8). The zenith 10 is dominated by high income countries. The top-showing economies in the GII are still almost from the high-income group, with China (fourteenth) remaining the only middle-income economy in the GII top 30. Malaysia (thirty third) follows.
India is ranked 48th, four places above last year's level.
This is the first time that India has been placed below 50 in the GII.
India is now the third most innovative lower-middle-income economy within the world.
India is ranked among the top 15 in the following categories:

The report states that India has the highest quality of innovation in the middle countries

WIPO IN NEWS –

Daren Tang, a national of Singapore, formally assumed his functions as Director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) on October 1,2020, starting a six-year mandate at the helm of the organization.
WIPO has expanded its suite of on-line services with an online platform providing free entry to complete, impartial, and based reports on many patent databases. WIPO encourage (Index of Specialized Patent Information report) will help a variety of stakeholders in searching for the myriad of patent databases around the world.
Trinidad and Tobago emerged as the 107th member of WIPO’s Madrid System for international trademark registration. With Trinidad and Tobago’s membership, brand proprietors around the world and in Trinidad and Tobago can protect their trademarks in 123 countries covered through a single procedure.
In September World Intellectual Property Organisation launched, ‘WIPO Lex-Judgments’, a brand-new database providing unfastened-of-price entry to main judicial decisions related to IP regulation from around the sector.

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