(Apr. 15, 2020) Last week, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released its 2019 statistics, recording 2019 as its best year for intellectual property (IP) services, treaties, and finances since WIPO’s creation in 1967. It also announced that in 2019, China surpassed the United States as the top filer of international patents—the first time any country has filed more applications with WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) System than the U.S. since PCT operations began in 1978.
In addition, WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center) administered a record number of trademark domain name disputes in 2019. WIPO’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy system has administered over 46,000 cases since its inception in 1999, and is widely considered an efficient and cost-effective method to resolve internet disputes.
About WIPO
WIPO is a United Nations (UN) agency with 193 member states that provides a global forum for IP services, policy, information, and cooperation. WIPO is unique among UN agencies because it is largely self-funded through services it provides to industry and the private sector as well as through revenue generated by the WIPO Center.