International Publishers Association

The International Publishers Association (IPA) is an international publishing industry federation of national publisher associations representing book and journal publishing. It is a non-profit and non-governmental organization, founded in 1896 to promote and protect publishing and to raise awareness for publishing in the context of economic, cultural and political development. The IPA actively opposes censorship and promotes copyright, literacy and the freedom to publish.

The IPA represents the interests of the publishing industry at international level.

Founded in 1896 in Paris, France, by the leading publishers at that time the initial aim of the IPA was to ensure that countries throughout the world adopted copyright law and implemented the then new international copyright treaty, the 1886 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

The IPA, active mostly in Europe during its first century, provided a platform for national publishers to voice their concerns for future important issues. From its first year, IPA members called to countries to eliminate custom duties to intellectual products, and the tenth Congress in 1933 dealt for the first time with book-fairs.

In 1962 the IPA’s headquarters moved from Zurich to Geneva. In the same year, at the Barcelona Congress, regular connections with UNESCO were established.

The promotion of copyright remains one of the IPA's main objectives. Since its establishment the IPA also promotes and defends the freedom to publish, which it describes as a "fundamental aspect of the human right to freedom of expression. As an industry association IPA continues to deal with a range of issues affecting publishers, such as book fairs, standards, piracy, literacy, textbook procurement policy, collective licensing, VAT, professional training, and promotion of reading. The IPA also functions as a meeting place for publishers to network and conduct business.

...
Wikipedia