World Intellectual Property Organization

Specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1974 to coordinate the international protection (initiated by the Paris convention in 1883) of inventions, trademarks, and industrial designs, and also literary and artistic works (as initiated by the Berne convention in 1886). In January 2007 the WIPO had 184 member states.

In December 1999, WIPO helped to put into place the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), now the basis for settling trademark conflicts on the Internet. The policy was instituted after a study lasting a year by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).