World Intellectual Property Organization
239px WIPO logo
Org type	Specialized Agency
Acronyms	WIPO
Head	Director-General of WIPO Francis Gurry
Status	Active
Established	July 14, 1967
Website	www.wipo.int

Francis Gurry in 2011

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."^[1]

WIPO currently has 185 member states,^[2] administers 24 international treaties,^[3] and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The current Director-General of WIPO is Francis Gurry, who took office on October 1, 2008.^[4] 184 of the UN Members as well as the Holy See are Members of WIPO. Non-members are the states of Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, and the states with limited recognition. Palestine has observer status.^[5]

History[link]

The predecessor to WIPO was the BIRPI (Bureaux Internationaux Réunis pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle, French acronym for United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property), 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.

WIPO was formally created by the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, which entered into force on April 26, 1970. Under Article 3 of this Convention, WIPO seeks to "promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world." WIPO became a specialized agency of the UN in 1974. The Agreement between the United Nations and the World Intellectual Property Organization^[6] notes in Article 1 that WIPO is responsible

"for promoting creative intellectual activity and for facilitating the transfer of technology related to industrial property to the developing countries in order to accelerate economic, social and cultural development, subject to the competence and responsibilities of the United Nations and its organs, particularly the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, as well as of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and of other agencies within the United Nations system."

The Agreement marked a transition for WIPO from the mandate it inherited in 1967 from BIRPI, to promote the protection of intellectual property, to one that involved the more complex task of promoting technology transfer and economic development. ^{[7][Need quotation to verify]}

Unlike other branches of the United Nations, WIPO has significant financial resources independent of the contributions from its Member States. In 2006, over 90% of its income of just over CHF 250 million^[8] was expected to be generated from the collection of fees by the International Bureau (IB) under the intellectual property application and registration systems which it administers (the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Madrid system for trade marks and the Hague system for industrial designs).

Criticism[link]

As with all United Nations multi-government forums, WIPO is not an elected body. WIPO usually attempts to reach decisions by consensus, but in any vote, each Member State is entitled to one vote, regardless of population or contribution to the funding. This has highlighted a disagreement over certain issues, due to the North-South divide in the politics of intellectual property. During the 1960s and 1970s, developing nations were able to block expansions to intellectual property treaties, such as universal pharmaceutical patents, which might have occurred through WIPO.^[vague]

In the 1980s, this led to the United States and other developed countries "forum shifting" intellectual property standard-setting out of WIPO and into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which later evolved into the World Trade Organization, where the North had greater control of the agenda. This strategy eventually resulted in the enactment of Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).^{[citation needed]}

Much of the work at WIPO is done through committees, including the Standing Committee on Patents (SCP), the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), the Advisory Committee on Enforcement (ACE), and the Intergovernmental Committee (IGC) on Access to Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, and the Working Group on Reform of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.^[who?]

In October 2004, WIPO agreed to adopt a proposal offered by Argentina and Brazil, the "Proposal for the Establishment of a Development Agenda for WIPO" - from the Geneva Declaration on the Future of the World Intellectual Property Organization.^[9] This proposal was well supported by developing countries. A number of civil society bodies have been working on a draft Access to Knowledge (A2K)^[10] Treaty which they would like to see introduced.

The Washington Post reported in 2003 that Lois Boland (USPTO Director of International Relations) said "that open-source software runs counter to the mission of WIPO, which is to promote intellectual-property rights." Also saying, "To hold a meeting which has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such rights seems to us to be contrary to the goals of WIPO."^[11]

Information network[link]

WIPO has established WIPOnet, a global information network. The project seeks to link over 300 intellectual property offices (IP offices) in all WIPO Member States. In addition to providing a means of secure communication among all connected parties, WIPOnet is the foundation for WIPO's intellectual property services.^[12]

See also[link]

• Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
• Geneva Declaration on the Future of the World Intellectual Property Organization
• Intellectual property
• List of parties to international copyright agreements
• Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT)
• Treaties administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization
• Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy
• World Intellectual Property Day (April 26)
• World Intellectual Wealth Organisation

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: World Intellectual Property Organization

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: World Intellectual Property Organization

• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) website

• List of member states

v t e United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Membership List of members of the United Nations Economic and Social Council Functional commissions UN Commission for Social Development · UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR - Disbanded 2006) · Commission on Narcotic Drugs · Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice · Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) · Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) · UN Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW) · Commission on Population and Development · UN Statistical Commission · United Nations Forum on Forests Regional commissions Europe (ECE) · Africa (ECA) · Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) · Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) · Western Asia (ESCWA) Specialized agencies International Labour Organization (ILO) · Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) · United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) · World Health Organization (WHO)  · International Monetary Fund (IMF) · International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)  · International Maritime Organization (IMO) · International Telecommunication Union (ITU)  · Universal Postal Union (UPU) · World Meteorological Organization (WMO) · World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) · International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) · United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)  · United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) · United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) · United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS) · International Refugee Organization (IRO – ceased to exist in 1952)  · International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) Other entities United Nations Development Group (UNDG) · United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) · United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)  Category ·  United Nations Portal

Intellectual property organizations are organizations that are focused on copyrights, trademarks, patents, or other intellectual property law concepts.

This includes international intergovernmental organizations that foster governmental cooperation in the area of copyrights, trademarks and patents (such as organizations based on or founded by treaty), as well as non-governmental, non-profit organizations, lobbying organizations, think tanks, notable committees, and professional associations.

International, general organisations[link]

• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
• African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO)
• Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI) or African Intellectual Property Organization

Specialized and national organisations[link]

Patent offices[link]

Patent-related organisations[link]

• European Patent Organisation (EPO or EPOrg)
• Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO)
• Patent Office of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC)

Trademark- and design-related organisations[link]

• Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM)
• Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP)

Think tanks, committees, institutes, non-profit and professional organizations[link]

• AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law (SCRIPT)
• Alliance for American Innovation (AAIUSA)
• American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)
• Arab Society for Intellectual Property (ASIP)
• Association française des Spécialistes en Propriété industrielle de l'Industrie (ASPI)^[1]
• Boston Patent Law Association (BPLA)
• Centre for International Industrial Property Studies (CEIPI)
• Center for Intellectual Property Studies (CIP)
• Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA)

• European Federation of Industrial Property Agents in Industry (FEMIPI)
• European Intellectual Property Institutes Network (EIPIN)
• European Patent Institute (epi)
• European Patent Lawyers Association (EPLAW)
• European Round Table on Patent Practice (EUROTAB)

• German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR e. V.)

• Hong Kong Institute of Patent Attorneys (HKIPA)

• Institute of Patentees and Inventors
• Intellectual Property Institute (IP Institute)
• Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO)
• International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP)
• International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property (AIPPI)
• International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI)
• International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA)
• International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI)
• International Trademark Association (INTA)
• InventorEd (InvEd)
• Inventors Network of the Capital Area (INCA)
• IP Federation (formerly the "Trade Marks, Patents and Designs Federation" or TMPDF)

• Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA)

• Licensing Executives Society International (LESI or LES Int.)

• Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law
• Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC)

• National Association of Patent Practitioners (NAPP)

• Patent Commons
• Patent Office Practioners Association (POPA)
• Patent Information Users Group (PIUG)
• Pirate Party
• Professional Inventors Alliance (PIAUSA)
• Public Interest Intellectual Property Advisors (PIIPA)^[2]
• Public Knowledge (PK)
• Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT)

• Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute

• Software Patent Institute (SPI)
• Standing Advisory Committee before the European Patent Office (SACEPO)

• The Intellectual Property Lawyers' Organisation (TIPLO)

• UNION of European Practitioners in Intellectual Property (UNION or UEPIP)
• Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM)

Defunct organisations[link]

• International Patent Institute (IIB)
• The United States Patent Association
• United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property (BIRPI)

See also[link]

• Patent attorney
• Patent examiner

References[link]

Francis Gurry
4th Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2008
Preceded by	Kamil Idris
Personal details
Born	(1951-05-17) 17 May 1951 (age 61) Australia
Nationality	Australian

Francis Gurry (born 17 May 1951^[1][2]) is an Australian national and the fourth and current Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). He is also Secretary-General of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). Gurry previously served as a Deputy Director General of WIPO from 2003 to 2008.^[3]

Career[link]

Gurry graduated in 1974 from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Laws and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia in 1975.^[2] He worked in Melbourne as an articled clerk and solicitor at Arthur Robinson & Co. (now Allens Arthur Robinson)^[4] and earned a Master of Laws degree from the University of Melbourne in 1976^[5]. From 1976 to 1979, Gurry was a research student at the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, from which he was awarded a PhD^[5] in 1980 for his thesis dealing with breach of confidence.^[2]

Before joining WIPO, Gurry was a senior lecturer in law at the University of Melbourne and, for one year, a solicitor at Freehills, Melbourne.^[6] He was also a visiting professor of law at the University of Dijon, France.^[2]

Francis Gurry joined the World Intellectual Property Organization in 1985^[7] as a consultant and senior program officer in the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. Between 1988 and 1999, he held positions in different sectors of WIPO, including in the Industrial Property Law Section, the Office of the Director General, and the Legal Counsel Office.^[2] As Assistant Director General (from 1999-2003) and Deputy Director General (from 2003-2008), he was in charge of a variety of areas including the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), patent law and policy, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (which he helped establish^[8]), traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources, and life sciences.^[2]

Francis Gurry was nominated as a candidate for the position of Director General of WIPO in February 2008^[9] and won the election on 13 May 2008.^[10] On 22 September 2008, he was appointed Director General by the WIPO General Assembly.^[11] His six-year term started on 1 October 2008 and will run through to the end of September 2014.^[12]

Published works[link]

Books[link]

• International Intellectual Property in an Integrated World Economy, Aspen Publishers, New York, 2007 (with Frederick Abbot and Thomas Cottier), ISBN 978-0-7355-3958-7
• International Intellectual Property System: Commentary and Materials, Kluwer Law International, The Hague, 1999 (with Frederick Abbot and Thomas Cottier), ISBN 90-411-9322-7
• Breach of Confidence, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1984, ISBN 0-19-825378-8 (re-printed 1990)
• Confidential Information, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1981

Selected articles[link]

• “The Cambrian Explosion”, International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, vol. 38, no. 3 (2007), pp. 255-258
• “Globalization, Intellectual Property and Development”, Proceedings of the American Society of International Law, 2005
• “The Growing Complexity of International Policy in Intellectual Property”, Science and Engineering Ethics, vol. 11, no. 1 (2005), pp. 13-20
• “The Dispute Resolution Services of the World Intellectual Property Organization”, Journal of International Economic Law, vol. 2, no. 2 (1999), pp. 385 – 398
• “The Evolution of Technology and Markets and the Management of Intellectual Property Rights”, in Frederick Abbott and David Gerber (eds.) Public Policy and Global Technology Integration, (Kluwer Law International, London, 1997), ISBN 90-411-0655-3
• “Arbitrage et propriété intellectuelle”, in Institut de recherche en propriété intellectuelle Arbitrage et propriété intellectuelle (Libraires Techniques, Paris, 1994), ISBN 2-7111-2383-9

References[link]

External links[link]

• Francis Gurry at WIPO
• Francis Gurry at the Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne
• Francis Gurry at the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC)
• An Interview with WIPO Director General Francis Gurry (WIPO Magazine 5/2010)
• An Exclusive Interview with Francis Gurry, WIPO Director General (IPWatchdog, 4 May 2010)

v t e Directors General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Georg Bodenhausen (Netherlands) • Árpád Bogsch (United States) • Kamil Idris (Sudan) • Francis Gurry (Australia)

Barbara Diane Martin (born 1943) in Detroit, Michigan is an African-American singer; better known for being one of the original founding members of Motown singing group The Supremes. After The Primettes dropped Betty McGlown from their lineup due to McGlown's upcoming nuptials, Martin replaced her in the group in 1960. She and her groupmates, Diana Ross (then known as Diane), Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard, signed a recording contract with Motown founder Berry Gordy on January 15, 1961 as The Supremes, a name that Ballard had chosen (as she was the only group member in the studio at the time) from a list provided by Motown songwriter, Janie Bradford, and became part of the Motown stable of performers.

In between recording a handful of early singles, none of which became hits, Martin, Wilson, Ross, and Ballard worked as studio singers and hand clappers for other leading groups. In October 1961, Martin became pregnant. Her husband supported her decision to stay in the group, but she left in the early spring of 1962 - leaving Ross, Wilson and Ballard a trio.^[1]

Although Martin sang on many of the group's early singles, and most of the tracks on the group's first album, Meet The Supremes, she is not pictured on the album cover, and never received any royalties from Motown after 1962. All of Martin's recorded vocals appear under the name of The Supremes, while McGlown's appear under The Primettes. Martin's only lead vocal (singing-wise) for the group was recorded in 1960 when the group recorded the Smokey Robinson ballad, "After All", singing the bridge to the song whereas Ross, Wilson and Ballard sang verses. The song was featured on the group's 2000 box set The Supremes. Martin also has a spoken interlude line (spoken lead) during the song "(He's) Seventeen", and has brief solos (but not leads) on two other songs; she has the first note (and says the first "the") and on the song "The Tears, and does the countdown at the beginning of the song "The Boy That Got Away" (on which she also holds a few notes longer than the other group members near the end). She did sing the lead on "(He's) Seventeen" during live performances the group made in 1961 and 1962. All album and "unreleased" tracks featuring Martin's vocals have been released on various Motown and Supremes compilation albums.

Notes[link]

Martín Muñoz de las Posadas is a municipality located in the province of Segovia, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 439 inhabitants.

Coordinates: 40°59′N 4°36′W / 40.983°N 4.6°W / 40.983; -4.6

This article about a location in the province of Segovia, Spain is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e