World Intellectual Property Day is April 26, 2017. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), “This year, we’ll explore how innovation is making our lives healthier, safer, and more comfortable, turning problems into progress. We’ll look at how the intellectual property system supports innovation by attracting investment, rewarding creators, encouraging them to develop their ideas, and ensuring that their new knowledge is freely available so that tomorrow’s innovators can build on today’s new technology.”

World Intellectual Property Day is observed annually on 26 April. The event was established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2000 to “raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trademarks and designs impact on daily life” and “to celebrate creativity, and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies across the globe.”

The theme of this year’s World IP Day is Innovation–Improving Lives.” Last year, the USPTO recognized and awarded winners of the Patents for Humanity program for generating innovative solutions that addressed global humanitarian challenges. Click here to visit WIPO’s World Intellectual Property Day webpage.

Watch the video to learn about the 2016 winners of Patents for Humanity and how their innovation has improved lives:

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the global forum for intellectual property policy, services, information and cooperation. A specialized agency of the United Nations, WIPO assists its 189 member states in developing a balanced international IP legal framework to meet society’s evolving needs. It provides business services for obtaining IP rights in multiple countries and resolving disputes. It delivers capacity-building programs to help developing countries benefit from using IP. And it provides free access to unique knowledge banks of IP information.

Everything you always wanted to know about WIPO, but were afraid to ask: A new video gives a high-altitude overview of the global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information and cooperation. To learn more about WIPO, watch the following video entitled: “WIPO in Three Minutes” 


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