International Cooperation on

IP-1

N. S. Raghava
Department of Information Technology,
Delhi Technological University Bawana
Road, Delhi – 110042.
nsraghava@dce.edu
 The World Intellectual
Property Organization
(WIPO)

 (Bare Essentials, vide the WIPO web

site www.wipo.int/)
 Contd…
 The World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) is a specialized
agency of the United Nations. It is
dedicated to developing a balanced
and accessible international
intellectual property (IP) system,
which rewards creativity, stimulates
innovation and contributes to
economic development while
safeguarding the public interest.
 Contd…
 WIPO was established by the
WIPO Convention in 1967 with a
mandate from its Member States to
promote the protection of IP throughout
the world through cooperation among
states and in collaboration with other
international organizations. Its
headquarters are in Geneva,
Switzerland.
 Strategic Direction and
Activities
WIPO’s vision is that IP is an important
tool for the economic, social and
cultural development of all countries.
This shapes its mission to promote the
effective use and protection of IP
worldwide. Strategic goals are set out
in a four yearly Medium Term Plan and
refined in the biennial Program and
Budget document.
 Patentable Subject Matter
 The five strategic goals defined in the
2006 – 2007 Program and Budget are:
 To promote an IP culture;
 To integrate IP into national development policies and
programs;
 To develop international IP laws and standards;
 To deliver quality services in global IP protection
systems;
 To increase the efficiency of WIPO’s management and
support processes.

WIPO’s core tasks and program activities

are all aimed at achieving these goals.
 Core tasks of WIPO
 WIPO’s activities are conducted within the strategic
framework set out in the biennial Program and Budget
document and are driven by demand from Member
States. They fall broadly into the following areas. 
Developing international IP laws and standards

 WIPO is responsible for promoting the progressive development

and harmonization of IP legislation, standards and procedures
among its Member States. This includes further
development of international laws and treaties regarding
patents; trademarks, industrial designs and geographical
indications; and copyright and related rights.
 WIPO is also working with Member States to explore IP issues in
the area of
traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and geneti
c resources
.
 WIPO handles the administration of 24 international treaties (16
on industrial property; 7 on copyright; plus the convention
creating WIPO). 
 Delivering global IP protection
services
 WIPO administers fee-based services, based on
international agreements, which enable users
in member countries to file international
applications for patents (PCT), and
international registrations for trademarks (
Madrid system), designs (Hague System), and
appellations of origin (Lisbon System).
 WIPO administers four IP classification systems
, which organize the mass of information
concerning inventions, trademarks, and
industrial designs into indexed, manageable
structures for easy retrieval.
 WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center offers
dispute resolution services to businesses and
individuals, including in the growth area of
Internet domain name disputes.
 Encouraging the use of IP for
economic development
 WIPO runs a range of programs aimed at
increasing the effective use of IP by
developing nations as a tool for economic
development. Programs include technical
assistance in support of member countries'
initiatives to improve their IP legislative,
institutional and human resources framework;
strategies for innovation promotion and IP
exploitation; economic studies and material to
inform public policy choices.  
 Promoting better understanding
of IP
 WIPO creates and disseminates a wealth of
public outreach material. This aims to
encourage creativity and innovation; and to
increase understanding of how to protect
and benefit from the resulting IP. Seminars
and information products also target
specific groups, such as creators, small and
medium-sized enterprises, research
institutions and policy-makers. Other
awareness-raising activities contribute to
Member States’ efforts in the area of
enforcement of IP rights.
 Providing a forum for debate
 WIPO meetings regularly bring
together stakeholders from
governments, rights-holders’ groups
and civil society in order to facilitate
constructive debate on current
challenges. WIPO also commissions
and publishes studies on emerging
issues.
 Admission Criteria
 To become a member, a state must deposit an instrument of
ratification or accession with the Director General of WIPO.
 The WIPO Convention provides that membership is
open to any state that:
 is a member of the Paris Union for the Protection of
Industrial Property, or of the Berne Union for the
Protection of Literary and Artistic Works;
 Or is a member of the United Nations, or of any of the
United Nations' Specialized Agencies, or of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, or that is a party
to the Statute of the International Court of Justice;
 or is invited by the WIPO General Assembly to become
a Member State of the Organization.

N.B. Read about the Wipo’s Arbitration and Mediation

Centre
 Wipo’s Arbitration and Mediation Centre
 Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the WIPO
Arbitration and Mediation Center 
was established in 1994 to offer 
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) optio
ns
, in particular arbitration and mediation, for
the resolution of international commercial
disputes between private parties.
Developed by leading experts in cross-
border dispute settlement, the procedures
offered by the Center are widely
recognized as particularly appropriate for
technology, entertainment and other
disputes involving intellectual property.
 WIPO-Administered Treaties
The links below provide detailed information on all 24 treaties administered
by WIPO and the WIPO Convention.

IP Protection Global Protection Classificatio

System n
Berne Convention Budapest Treaty Locarno Agreement
Brussels Convention Hague Agreement Nice Agreement
Film Register Treaty Lisbon Agreement Strasbourg
Madrid Agreement Madrid Agreement (Marks) Agreement
(Indications of Source) Madrid Protocol Vienna Agreement
Nairobi Treaty PCT
Paris Convention
Patent Law Treaty
Phonograms Convention
Rome Convention
Singapore Treaty on the Law of
Trademarks
Trademark Law Treaty
Washington Treaty
WCT
WPPT
 How WIPO works
 The terms governing WIPO’s mandate,
functions, finances and procedures are set out
in the WIPO Convention.
Member States
 WIPO’s Member States determine the strategic
direction and activities of the Organization.
They meet in the Assemblies, committees and
working groups. (See  decision-making bodies)
 There are currently 184 Member States, i.e.
over 90 percent of the countries of the world.
Click here for a regularly updated
list of members and membership criteria, with
links to further information by country.
 Secretariat
 The WIPO Secretariat, or International Bureau, is
based in Geneva. WIPO staff, drawn from more
than 90 countries, include experts in diverse areas
of IP law and practice, as well as specialists in
public policy, economics, administration and IT.

 The respective divisions of the Secretariat are

responsible for coordinating the meetings of
Member States and implementing their decisions;
for administering the international IP registration
systems; for developing and executing the
programs designed to achieve WIPO’s goals; and
for providing a repository of IP expertise to assist
its members.
NGOs, IGOs, Civil Society

 WIPO works with a wide spectrum of

stakeholders, including other
intergovernmental organizations, non-
governmental organizations,
representatives of civil society and of
industry groups. Some 250 NGOs and IGOs
currently have official observer status at
WIPO meetings. See the list of WIPO
observers and admission criteria
 Program and Budget
 Every two years WIPO’s Director General presents a
Program and Budget document to Member States for
approval. This details objectives, performance measures
and budgetary planning for all proposed program activities.
See the 2006 - 2007 Program and Budget document.

 WIPO is unusual among the family of UN organizations in

that it is largely self-financing. About 90 percent of the
Organization's budgeted expenditure of 531 million Swiss
francs for the 2006-2007 biennium will come from earnings
from the services which WIPO provides to users of the
international registration systems (PCT, Madrid system, The
Hague System etc.). The remaining 10 percent will be made
up mainly of revenue from WIPO’s arbitration and mediation
services and sales of publications, plus contributions from
Member States. These contributions are relatively small.
The five largest contributing countries each donate about
one-half percent of the Organization's budget.