WIPO
July 14, 2025
Trademarks, patents and designs are intangible assets as valuable as the physical assets that make up an entity's assets. The real challenge for entrepreneurs, companies, and innovators lies not only in creating these assets, but also in protecting, monitoring and preserving/renewing them at the international level.
The WIPO Convention
This is where a key instrument in the international protection of Intellectual Property (IP) rights comes into play: the Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
This Convention was signed on 14 July 1967 and not only established the creation of an international Organization, but also laid the foundations for a global system of cooperation on Intellectual Property with two main objectives:
- To promote the protection of Intellectual Property throughout the world;
- To ensure administrative cooperation between the parties involved.
Today, 194 countries are members of WIPO, making it a central part of the global legal framework that protects innovations, trademarks, literary and artistic works, designs, and other intangible assets.
When a company, entity, or inventor successfully registers a trademark or patents an invention, it is generating an Intellectual Property right, but registering the intangible asset only in the country of origin may not be enough in a globalized market.
Thanks to this Convention, it has been possible to build a system that facilitates procedures and reduces costs for the international protection of these intangible assets.
Implementing an IP strategy with an international focus is not just a legal issue: it is a move towards positioning, competitiveness, and scalability. Whether you are a startup that has just developed an app, a creative studio designing branding, or an established company looking for new international markets: your IP needs cross-border protection.
Thanks to the creation of WIPO, today there are global and unified mechanisms that allow you to protect intangible assets without having to ‘start from scratch’ in each country. For example:
- The Madrid System, which establishes a single application system for the protection of a trademark at the international level;
- The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) allows companies and innovators to seek patent protection for their inventions in several countries through a single procedure;
- The Hague System for the International Registration of Designs allows for the registration of up to 100 designs in 99 countries, with the filing of a single international application;
- The Lisbon System allows for the international registration of appellations of origin and geographical indications.
Need to protect your Intellectual Property?
At UNGRIA we have experts who can advise and accompany you to design the Intellectual Property strategy that best suits your business.
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions or require further details.