What is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind:
inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and
designs used in commerce.
IP is divided into two categories: Industrial property, which
includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and
geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary
and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical
works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and
sculptures, and architectural designs. Rights related to copyright
include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of
phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio
and television programs. For an introduction to IP for
non-specialists, refer to:
- Understanding Copyright and Related Rights
- Understanding Industrial Property
- WIPO Intellectual Property Handbook (a comprehensive introduction to the policy, law and use of IP)
The innovations and creative expressions of indigenous and local
communities are also IP, yet because they are “traditional” they may not
be fully protected by existing IP systems. Access to, and equitable
benefit-sharing in, genetic resources also raise IP questions.
Normative and capacity-building programs are underway at WIPO to develop
balanced and appropriate legal and practical responses to these
issues. For more information, refer to:
- IP and Traditional Knowledge
- IP and Traditional Cultural Expressions/Folklore
Other useful information
- Country information concerning membership of WIPO and the treaties administered by WIPO
- IP legislation from a wide range of countries and various
IP-related treaties at the multilateral, regional and bilateral level
contained in WIPO Lex - Contact details and other information concerning national IP offices in the Directory of Intellectual Property Offices
- Information on IP academies in WIPO’s Global Network on IP Academies
- WIPO industrial property statistics
