With the aim of further developing the international patent system to better support innovation in economies around the globe, the European Patent Office (EPO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) have agreed on a comprehensive three-year technical co-operation scheme.

Date: Thu, 03 May 2012 12:37:00 +0200

This year’s World Intellectual Property Day on April 26 celebrates visionary innovators - individuals whose ingenuity and artistry have broken molds, opened new horizons and made a lasting impact. Across the world, IP Offices, associations, businesses and technology institutions and students are organizing numerous activities to mark the day, including competitions, exhibitions and public discussions.

Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:28:00 +0200

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry met on April 12, 2012 UNIDO Director General Kandeh Yumkella to discuss the strengthening of cooperation between the two organizations in areas relating to science and technology, innovation promotion, private sector development and trade capacity building.

Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2012 19:14:00 +0200

An exhibition showing the intellectual property (IP) behind Steve Jobs’ innovations opens to the public at WIPO on March 30, 2012 and will run through to World Intellectual Property Day on April 26, 2012. The exhibition ties in with this year’s World Intellectual Property Day theme – Visionary Innovators.

Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:44:00 +0200

2011 saw the highest number of international trademark applications ever filed under WIPO’s Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks ("Madrid system") with 42,270 applications, or a 6.5 % increase compared to 2010. Applications from the member states of the European Union (EU) accounted for more than half (57.4%) of all international trademark applications, and China remained the most designated country for trademark protection.

Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:00:00 +0100

Journalists wishing to cover an international conference to improve the rights of actors and other performers, which will be convened by WIPO in Beijing from June 20 to 26, 2012 are invited to apply for media accreditation. The Diplomatic Conference on the Protection of Audiovisual Performances, hosted by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, is expected to conclude a new international treaty on the rights of performers in the international exploitation of their audiovisual performances in the digital era.

Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:57:00 +0100

In 2011, trademark holders filed a record 2,764 cybersquatting cases covering 4,781 domain names with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center) under procedures based on the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), an increase of 2.5% and 9.4% over the previous highest levels in 2010 and 2009, respectively. Meanwhile, with plans by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for an expansion in the number of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) underway in 2012, the WIPO Center recently rolled out resources for pre-emptive measures to prevent the abusive use of trademarks as gTLDs.

Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:11:00 +0100

Despite difficult economic conditions, international patent filings under the WIPO-administered Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) set a new record in 2011 with 181,900 applications – a growth of 10.7% on 2010 and the fastest growth since 2005.

Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2012 07:55:00 +0100

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry has welcomed an Australian donation of AUD 2 million for projects to help developing and least developing countries (LDCs) build capacity in the field of intellectual property (IP) and ensure they were in a position to actively participate in the benefits of innovation and the knowledge economy.

Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:21:00 +0100

A new report published by WIPO today shows that intellectual property (IP) filings worldwide rebounded strongly in 2010 after a considerable decline in 2009. The recovery in IP filings was stronger than the overall economic recovery. Patent and trademark filings grew by 7.2% and 11.8% respectively in 2010 compared to growth of 5.1% in the global gross domestic product (GDP), with China and the United States (US) accounting for the greatest share of the increased filings.

Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:13:00 +0100