World Intellectual Property Organization
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World Intellectual Property Organization |
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WIPO headquarters in Geneva
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| Abbreviation | WIPO, OMPI |
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| Formation | July 14, 1967 |
| Type | Specialized Agency |
| Legal status | Active |
| Headquarters | Geneva, Switzerland |
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Head
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Director-General of WIPO Francis Gurry |
| Website | www.wipo.int |
World Intellectual Property Organization
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is one of the 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations.
WIPO was created in 1967 "to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world".
WIPO currently has 189 member states, administers 26 international treaties, and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The current Director-General of WIPO is Francis Gurry, who took office on October 1, 2008. 186 of the UN Members as well as the Cook Islands, Holy See and Niue are Members of WIPO. Non-members are the states of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, South Sudan and East Timor. The Palestinians have observer status.
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 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.
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