Innovators in China powered global patent applications to a new record in 2015, filing more than a million applications for the first time ever within a single year amid rising worldwide demand for intellectual property rights that undergird economic activity.
The World Intellectual Property Organization today announced its new Open Access policy to promote the widest possible public access to its publications, furthering the Organization’s commitment to the dissemination and sharing of knowledge.
New analysis shows that 29% of the international patent applications filed via WIPO in 2015 included at least one woman inventor, compared with 17% in 1995, according to a WIPO study.
The World Intellectual Property Organization has developed a ground-breaking new “artificial intelligence”-based translation tool for patent documents, handing innovators around the world the highest-quality service yet available for accessing information on new technologies.
The World Intellectual Property Organization has launched a first-of-its kind global program in which patent attorneys provide pro bono help to inventors in developing countries who want to file a patent for their invention but lack the means to do so.
Member states agreed to expand a network of overseas offices that promote WIPO services and cooperation around the world, ending the 2016 Assemblies meetings by approving new external offices in Algeria and Nigeria while agreeing to continue discussions on the opening four other offices by end of 2019.
WIPO’s Coordination Committee, the governing body responsible for staff matters, agreed on October 7, 2016, to end their discussions on the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) investigation into allegations against the Director General. .
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry reported excellent results in the Organization’s global intellectual property services and finances over the past year and urged member states to move forward with negotiations on the proposed Design Law Treaty.
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry welcomed the entry into force of the Marrakesh Treaty which can now begin boosting the number of specially adapted texts for the benefit of blind and otherwise print-disabled people around the world. The “books for blind” treaty entered into force on September 30, 2016, three months after it gained the necessary 20 ratifications or accessions by WIPO member states.
China joins the ranks of the world’s 25 most-innovative economies, while Switzerland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Finland and Singapore lead the 2016 rankings in the Global Innovation Index, released today by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).