Created in 1967 to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world.

• WIPO currently has 191 member states, administers 26 international treaties.
  • To become a member, a state must deposit an instrument of ratification or accession with the Director General.
• Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• WIPO is designed to promote the worldwide protection of both industrial property  and copyrighted materials.
• WIPO‘s predecessor was The United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property (BIPRI). 
• BIPRI administered two conventions such as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. BIRPI is thus transformed to become WIPO.