The World Intellectual Property Organization, known as WIPO, was established in 1970. This organization was designed to meet the expanding need for IP protection among innovators worldwide. The mission of the organization is to promote the effective use of intellectual property protection worldwide.  WIPO has enacted this mission into their strategic goals, programs and activities. 

In order to help innovators understand intellectual property, and learn how they can/should protect their own and others’ intellectual property, WIPO provides a virtual tour, which offers a brief introduction to how important these “mind works” are, and suggesting that such works should be appreciated for their contributions to our everyday life. 

WIPO strives to 1. promote a balanced IP system, and realize its development potential; 2. strengthen the intellectual property infrastructure, institution and human resources; 3. achieve progressive development of international development law; 4. deliver quality services in global IP protection systems; and, 5. work toward greater efficiency of management and support processes. There are 184 Member States in WIPO, including the United States of America, United Kingdom, and Japan.  WIPO helps these Member States to achieve the goals listed above in order that intellectual property can be well protected. WIPO believes strongly that better IP protections motivate people around the world to create more and better intellectual property, to the betterment of us all.

Of course, as technology improves dramatically, daily, and worldwide, the issues surrounding intellectual property become more and more complicated. Consequently, WIPO also provides some of the most up-to-date information related to intellectual property issues on their web-site.