The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) established World IP Day to commemorate April 26, 1970, the date the WIPO Convention officially took effect. Each year, the occasion serves as a global reminder of the role that intellectual property plays in encouraging innovation and creativity. This year, the World IP Day theme is “IP and Sports Ready, Set, Innovate,” recognizing the increasingly complex relationship between intellectual property rights and the multibillion-dollar global sports industry.
On February 3, 2026, Sisvel took a significant step forward in advancing transparency through its collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This initiative integrates verified SEP data into WIPO’s PATENTSCOPE platform, making it easier for users to access information about patents that have been identified as essential to the relevant standard through the mechanisms of Sisvel’s FRAND-based patent pools.
WIPO is seeking a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) External Consultant. WIPO aims to significantly expand the use of the PCT system compared to the Paris Convention in the United States of America. To achieve this, WIPO will engage an external contractor for a time-bound consultancy assignment to actively promote and drive the adoption of the PCT system within the user community.
This week on IPWatchdog Unleashed, I spoke with Lisa Jorgenson, who is Deputy Director at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Jorgenson had just attended IPWatchdog LIVE 2026 and spoke on our final panel along with former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director David Kappos, former USPTO Director Andrei Iancu, and former International Trade Commission (ITC) Commissioner Scott Kieff. She joined me immediately following the conference at IPWatchdog Studios for a wide-ranging discussion that pulled back the curtain on an institution many in the IP community think they understand—but often do not really appreciate.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) today released its second edition of the WIPO Pulse comprehensive survey, titled “Global intellectual property perception survey 2025,” analyzing the perceptions of intellectual property of 35,500 respondents in 74 countries that represent approximately 80% of the target population aged 18 to 65 worldwide between February 20 and April 25.
The World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO’s) new Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge, adopted in May 2024, would impose additional disclosure obligations on patent applicants under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Specifically, it would require disclosure of traditional knowledge and genetic resources even when those details have no bearing on patentability.
This week on IPWatchdog Unleashed, I had the pleasure of speaking with Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Our conversation spanned a range of topics, from the future of intellectual property (IP), to how intellectual property has been a force for helping humanity, to WIPO’s strategic initiatives and the burgeoning impact of artificial intelligence (AI). A central theme of our conversation was Tang’s fervent advocacy for intellectual property as a catalyst for global innovation and betterment of the human condition.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has embarked upon a three-year plan to focus on and discuss standard essential patents (SEPs).To forward this laudable goal, WIPO will host a free SEP symposium in Geneva on September 18-19, which will be live streamed online… WIPO bringing the SEP community together for an IP conversation was the predicate for our IPWatchdog Unleashed podcast this week. I spoke with András Jókúti, who is the Director of the Patent and Technology Law Division at WIPO. Our conversation provided insights into WIPO’s approach to SEPs, the challenges at hand, why WIPO is attempting to navigate this complex terrain, the need for increased transparency and much more.
Do you hear the music of SEPs? SEPs and music may not be an evident connection. But think of digital broadcasting, MP3, or simply listening to music on your smartphone with a connected headset. All of this is made possible through standardization. Therefore, in the year of IP and Music, WIPO conducts a global orchestra to play a SEP Symphony. The…
Lisa Jorgenson is Deputy Director General for Patents and Technology at WIPO. Jorgenson gave a keynote speech at IPWatchdog LIVE 2025 on Monday, March 3. Jorgenson focused primarily on two questions. First, what are the key trends driving global innovation today? Second, what do those key trends mean for the IP community and the innovators and creators? Jorgenson also came with eye-popping facts and figures, pointing out that global intangibles are valued at over $80 trillion, which is more than the world’s five largest economies combined. And she said the world’s leading brands are now worth over $13 trillion, with 45% of the value being located in the United States.
In 2007, I began attending sessions of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO’s) Standing Committee on Trademarks, Industrial Designs, and Geographical Indications (SCT) in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the development of the Design Law Treaty. I attended these yearly meetings typically on behalf of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), though occasionally as a representative of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). I was consistently intrigued by the opportunity to bring harmony to international design law—an area plagued by discord and confusion, including disagreement over the very terminology used to describe the right (e.g., design patent, industrial design, design registration, design model, aesthetic model, etc.). Fast forward 17 years, and I found myself in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, attending the final Diplomatic Conference for the Design Law Treaty.
Today, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published its annual World Intellectual Property Indicators Report, providing a snapshot of IP filing activities across the globe during 2023. Among the report’s key findings is that global patent filing activity increased for the fourth straight year, thanks in large part to continued growth in China and a strong showing from India, which placed among the top ten nations for patents, trademarks and industrial designs. This year’s report also underscored the importance of Asian IP filing offices, which received two-thirds of all patent applications filed in 2023.
András Jókúti is an intellectual property lawyer, former Director-General for Legal Affairs of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office, and he is a former Fulbright Scholar. Since January 2022, András has served as the Director of the Patent and Technology Law Division at World Intellectual Property Organization. András came to the United States last week to speak at IPWatchdog LIVE 2024, which was hosted at the Renaissance Capitol View hotel in Arlington, Virginia.
In a recent publication titled “’Google for DNA’ indexes 10% of world’s known genetic sequences,” the journal, Science, addressed promising results of a new tool called MetaGraph. Developed by a Biomedical Informatics academic group from ETH Zurich, MetaGraph organizes and compresses publicly available sequence data into a searchable format.
In 2024, WIPO and Italy’s Luiss Business School (LBS) established Global INTAN-Invest, a database that measures the growing interest and investment in intangible assets. These results, released annually via the World Intangible Investment Highlights, emphasize the importance of intangible assets and evaluate how companies can optimize their investments for competitive advantages.