WIPO Partners with ISNI to Assign Standards Identifying Creators

WIPO has announced its new role as an ISNI Registration Agency, reinforcing its commitment to strengthen the participation of creators in global markets.

Through this partnership, which was formalized during the IFRRO World Congress and General Assembly in Québec, Canada, in October 2024, WIPO will incorporate the International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) system into its WIPO Connect platform, a comprehensive solution designed to empower Copyright Management Organizations (CMOs) globally. This integration will enable CMOs within WIPO’s network to assign ISNIs to their members, enhancing the visibility and discoverability of creative works and their rights holders worldwide.

By enabling the assignment of standardized identifiers, it ensures creators receive accurate attribution and recognition for their work across borders. This facilitates the exchange of information among CMOs and licensees so that rights holders can get paid, including by streaming platforms.  

“Partnering with WIPO is an important milestone in ISNI’s vision for a unified, global name identifiction standard. Integrating with WIPO Connect extends ISNI’s reach to a diverse range of users, supporting IP standardization in emerging and underserved markets,” said Tim Devenport, Executive Director of the ISNI International Agency. 

WIPO Connect serves over 50 CMOs across regions including Africa, Asia/Pacific, the Caribbean, and Europe, representing stakeholders across diverse creative industries.

Michel Allain, Copyright IT Manager at WIPO, said, “Integrating ISNI into WIPO Connect marks a significant step forward in facilitating rights management worldwide. By advancing data interoperability, we’re strengthening the international reach of our CMOs and empowering rights holders across multiple industries and regions to reach wider audiences and get credited and paid.”

Starting in 2025, WIPO Connect will fully integrate ISNI’s APIs, enabling seamless assignment of unique identifiers for a broad range of creative contributors. This process will enhance the ability of rights holders to be identified when their works and sound recordings are used across the world. WIPO Connect also collaborates with CISAC, SCAPR, IFPI, and IFRRO fostering an interconnected and efficient global IP ecosystem.

About WIPO

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the United Nations agency that serves the world’s innovators and creators, ensuring that their ideas travel safely to the market and improve lives everywhere.

We do so by providing services that enable creators, innovators and entrepreneurs to protect and promote their intellectual property (IP) across borders and acting as a forum for addressing cutting-edge IP issues. Our IP data and information guide decisionmakers the world over. And our impact-driven projects and technical assistance ensure IP benefits everyone, everywhere.

For more information, please contact the News and Media Division at WIPO:

• Tel: (+41 22) 338 81 61 / 338 72 24
• E-mail

About the International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI):

ISNI is the ISO-certified, global standard number for identifying the millions of contributors to creative works and those active in their distribution, including researchers, inventors, writers, artists, visual creators, performers, producers, publishers, aggregators, and more. As ISO 27729, it is part of a family of international standard identifiers that also includes identifiers of works, recordings, products, and rights holders in all repertoires, e.g. DOI, ISAN, ISBN, ISRC, ISSN, and ISWC.

ISNIs can also act as linking or bridge identifiers in cases where several identification schemas exist, thus enabling cross-walks and correlation between the different schemas.

About the ISNI International Agency (ISNI-IA):

ISNI-IA, the Registration Authority for the International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI), is charged by ISO with governing, promulgating and maintaining the use of ISNIs worldwide.

ISNI’s mission is to assign to the public name(s) or persona(s) of individuals – as well as organizations involved in the production and/or distribution of creative works – persistent unique identifying numbers in order to resolve the problem of name ambiguity in search and discovery; and to diffuse each assigned ISNI across all repertoires in the global supply chain so that every published work can be unambiguously attributed to its creator(s) wherever that work is described.

Find out more at: https://isni.org/

To find out more about the work and membership of the ISNI International Agency, contact:

Tim Devenport
Executive Director
ISNI International Agency
+44 20 7503 6418
ISNI: 0000 0004 5913 7837