Search Reset
Query > English > 2021
Sharing Knowledge, Building IP Skills – The WIPO Academy Year in Review 2020
This report presents the Academy's achievements in 2020 and highlights the latest developments across programs, including new partnerships and course offerings.
Publication year: 2021
WIPO GREEN – Year in Review 2020
The WIPO GREEN Year in Review 2020 provides a snapshot of last year's activities and achievements. Some highlights include the regional innovation acceleration project in Latin America, WIPO GREEN strategic activities, and the establishment of new partner and donor relationships.
Guide to the International Registration of Marks under the Madrid Protocol
This Guide is primarily intended for applicants for, and holders of, international registrations of marks, as well as officials of the competent administrations of the members of the Madrid Union. It covers the various steps of the international registration procedure and explains the essential provisions of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Regulations under the Protocol.
WIPO IP Facts and Figures 2020
An overview of intellectual property activity based on the latest available year of complete statistics.
Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISCs) Report 2020
Enabling local innovators to exploit their potential
This annual report of the TISC program highlights the key trends, innovations and milestones in 2020, with a focus on how the program and the TISC network responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Patent Cooperation Treaty Yearly Review 2021 - Executive Summary
The International Patent System
This document provides the key trends in the use of the WIPO-administered Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). This edition provides a summary of the statistics reported in the PCT Yearly Review 2021.
Patent Cooperation Treaty Yearly Review – 2021
Comprehensive facts, figures and analysis of the international patent system. Special theme: A first insight into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on PCT applications
Madrid Yearly Review 2021
International Registration of Marks
Comprehensive facts, figures and analysis of the international registration of marks.
Hague Yearly Review 2021
International Registration of Industrial Designs
Comprehensive facts, figures and analysis of the international registration of industrial designs.
Enterprising Ideas
A Guide to Intellectual Property for Startups
This publication introduces startups to IP. Through step-by-step guidance, useful case studies and simple checklists, it illustrates how small businesses can use IP to remain competitive and manage risks. Written for startups bringing an innovative technology-based solution to market, the guide will be useful to any entrepreneur wanting to get to grips with the IP system.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 1/2021 (March)
The WIPO Magazine explores intellectual property, creativity and innovation in action across the world.
Boosting Tourism Development through Intellectual Property
This publication helps non-IP specialists understand the connection between IP, tourism and culture. Through multiple case studies, it illustrates how existing and potential IP tools, in particular branding and copyright, can add value to tourism services and products. It explains how to include IP in tourism policies, product development and destination branding, and shows how different IP rights can be leveraged for fundraising purposes.
WIPO Good Practice Toolkit for Collective Management Organizations (The Toolkit)
A Bridge between Rightholders and Users
The WIPO Good Practice Toolkit for Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) brings together examples of legislation, regulation and codes of conduct in the area of collective management from around the world. Member states and other stakeholders may use relevant parts of the document to help them design an approach suitable for their particular context. Note - The Toolkit is not a normative document. The first version of the Toolkit was published in 2018. The current version was published in September 2021, and reflects the submissions received from WIPO Member States and other stakeholders throughout the consultation process in 2021.
Global Innovation Index 2021, 14th Edition
Tracking Innovation through the COVID-19 Crisis
The Global Innovation Index 2021 takes the pulse of the most recent global innovation trends and ranks the innovation ecosystem performance of 132 economies, while highlighting innovation strengths and weaknesses and particular gaps in innovation metrics. In its new Global Innovation Tracker section, the report draws on a select set of indicators, including the effects on research and development expenditures or access to innovation finance, to provide a perspective on the impact of COVID-19 on global innovation performance.
Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms for Business-to-Business Digital Copyright and Content-Related Disputes - Executive Summary
A report on the results of the WIPO-MCST Survey
This executive summary reveals the key findings from the WIPO-MCST survey on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms to resolve business-to-business (B2B) disputes related to digital copyright and digital content
Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms for Business-to-Business Digital Copyright and Content-Related Disputes
This timely publication analyses the results of a survey carried out by WIPO, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea (MCST), on the current use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms to handle business-to-business disputes related to digital copyright and digital content. Drawing on more than 1,000 responses from a wide range of stakeholders in 129 countries, the report is a unique source of information on which to base the development of tailored ADR mechanisms.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 4/2021 (December)
From Paper to Platform: Publishing, Intellectual Property and the Digital Revolution
Supporting the development of a national book and reading culture through local professional writers and publishers requires an understanding of the way this sector of the creative economy works and how it is affected by the digital revolution. This publication is intended to help policymakers, particularly those in countries that are interested in promoting local publishing, to understand the publishing industry better and to understand how copyright and other policies affect the way books are being created, published and consumed.
WIPO Technology Trends 2021 - Executive Summary
Assistive technology
This groundbreaking report looks at patenting and technology trends in innovation in assistive technology. It identifies the prominent technologies, top players and markets for patent protection across seven domains – mobility, cognition, communication, hearing, the built environment, self-care and vision. Using a scale of technology readiness, it reveals which of the identified assistive products filed for patent protection are closest to commercialization.
WIPO Technology Trends 2021
Executive Summary
COVID-19 Impact on Artistic Income
Economic Research Working Paper No. 65
This paper assesses the impact of the pandemic crisis on self-employed income among artists resident in Germany. Using unique data from the latest available public insurance records, we show that musicians and performing artists are among the most vulnerable groups, and that writers, on average, are relatively less impacted. Moreover, the paper looks at the impact of the 2020 crisis on income differences by gender, career stages and regions, and it investigates the effect of specific non-pharmaceutical, public intervention implemented in German states.
Geographical Indications: An Introduction, 2nd edition
This publication provides an introduction to geographical indications, explaining their basic features, use and protection as an intellectual property right. Written for non-experts, it is a starting point for readers seeking to learn more about the topic.
WIPO Workforce 2021
December Edition
WIPO's workforce is the human capital of the Organization and its greatest asset. This brochure shows a detailed picture of staffing at WIPO in 2021.
WIPO Development Agenda
The WIPO Development Agenda aims to ensure that development considerations form an integral part of WIPO's work. As such, it is a cross-cutting issue which touches upon all sectors of the Organization. When formally establishing the Development Agenda in October 2007, the WIPO General Assembly adopted a set of 45 recommendations to enhance the development dimension of the Organization's activities.
World Intellectual Property Indicators 2021
This authoritative report analyzes IP activity around the globe. Drawing on 2020 filing, registration and renewals statistics from national and regional IP offices and WIPO, it covers patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, microorganisms, plant variety protection and geographical indications. The report also draws on survey data and industry sources to give a picture of activity in the publishing industry.
Protecting Your Mobile App
Intellectual Property Solutions
Mobile apps are multilayered products with different features, which may be protected by various intellectual property (IP) rights including but not limited to copyright, trademark and patent. This publication is designed as a guide for app developers and publishers to understand how to legally protect the intellectual property of their mobile app. It offers legal clarity and business-oriented guidelines on IP, to generate additional revenue from a mobile app for creators and rights holders, and provides practical advice and insights to inform strategic decisions. The publication reviews the mobile app value chain and offers a checklist of legal considerations when identifying the relevant IP rights, protection options and strategies.
Intermediary Liability and Trade in Follow-on Innovation
Economic Research Working Paper No. 66
Liability rules affect the incentives of intermediaries to disseminate and curate creative works, in particular when works build on the work of predecessors and they are potentially infringing copyright. In an application to the visual arts, we show that appropriation artists borrow images from different sources and incorporate them into new, derivative works of art. By doing so, they risk infringing copyright but also put commercial trade and availability of the work at litigation risk as liability can extend to intermediaries in markets (auction houses) or in public exhibitions (museums). Using a differences-in-differences model and unique data on the level of the individual art work, we empirically investigate the impact of the prominent 2013 Cariou v. Prince U.S. court decision on trade and availability in Appropriation Art.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 3/2021 (September)
IP for the Good of Everyone
Report of the Director General to the 2021 WIPO Assemblies
This annual report reviews the activities of 2020 and looks firmly to the future and a new strategic direction for WIPO.
June Edition
WIPO and the Sustainable Development Goals
Innovation driving human progress
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide an ambitious roadmap for human progress. This brochure explains how WIPO's work supports the SDGs by enabling innovation for the economic, social and cultural development of all countries.
Expanding the World Gender-Name Dictionary: WGND 2.0
Economic Research Working Paper No. 64
This paper revisits the first World Gender Name Dictionary (WGND 1.0), allowing to disambiguate the gender in data naming physical persons (Lax Martínez et al., 2016). We discuss its advantages and limitations and propose an expansion based on updated data and additional sources. By including more than 26 million records linking given names and 195 different countries and territories, the resulting WGND 2.0 substantially increases the international coverage of its processor. As a result, it is particularly designed to be applied to intellectual property unit-record data naming inventors, designers, individual applicants and other creators disclosed in these data.
WIPO Magazine, Issue 2/2021 (June)
Madrid Yearly Review 2021 – Executive Summary
This executive brief identifies key trends in the use of the WIPO-administered Madrid System.
Hague Yearly Review 2021 - Executive Summary
This executive brief identifies key trends in the use of the WIPO-administered Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs.
The impacts of counterfeiting on corporate investment
Economic Research Working Paper No. 67
This study uses a unique international database on customs seizures between the years 2011 to 2013 and matches global corporate statistics to study the impacts of counterfeiting on authentic corporations' investment and revenues. Applying the matched sampling combined with panel analyses, we attempt to estimate the effects counterfeit incidences have on corporate research investment and on firm sales and revenues (“sales displacement”) in various industries. We find an overall negative effects on the R&D and net sales across various regression specifications, except for the broad sector of tools, materials, and vehicles (HS code 8).
The Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs
Main Features and Advantages
An overview of the Hague System explaining who can use it, how the registration process works and how it may benefit users.
WIPO Program and Budget
for the 2022/23 biennium
The Program and Budget is a defining document for the Organization. It establishes the results that Member States wish to see achieved by the Organization over the coming biennium and authorizes the programs and resources necessary for the realization for those results.
WIPO Mediation, Arbitration and Expedited Arbitration Rules and Clauses
This brochure contains the rules of dispute resolution procedures administered by the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, namely, the WIPO Mediation Rules, the WIPO Arbitration Rules, the WIPO Expedited Arbitration Rules, and the WIPO Expert Determination Rules.
Main Provisions and Benefits of the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement (2015)
The Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement was adopted by the Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of a New Act of the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration, which took place in Geneva from May 11 to 21 , 2015. The Act establishes an international system of registration and protection for both appellations of origin and geographical indications.
The WIPO Singapore Office
This brochure provides an insight into the role and activities of the WIPO Singapore Office.
Guide to the International Registration of Industrial Designs under the Hague Agreement
This Guide is primarily intended for applicants and holders of international registrations of industrial designs, as well as officials of the competent administrations of the Member States of the Hague Union. It leads them through the various steps of the international registration procedure and explains the essential provisions of the Hague Agreement.