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 185 member states, administers 24 international treaties, and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The current Director-General of WIPO is Francis Gurry, who took office on October 1, 2008. 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.
Read more about World Intellectual Property Organization: History, Information Network, Directors-General
Famous quotes containing the words world, intellectual, property and/or organization:
“O I know they make war because they want peace; they hate so that they may live; and they destroy the present to make the world safe for the future. When have they not done and said they did it for that?”
—Elizabeth Smart (1913–1986)
“An intellectual hatred is the worst,
So let her think opinions are accursed.”
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“In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone.”
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