WIPO Lex is an online global database launched in 2010, which provides free public access to

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

laws, treaties and judicial decisions from around the world. The

World Intellectual Property Organization The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, 15 specialized agencies of the United Nation ...

(WIPO) maintains and develops the database. The objective of WIPO Lex is to provide information concerning the protection of intellectual property of WIPO Member States in accordance with Article 4(vi) of the WIPO Convention, which states that WIPO "shall assemble and disseminate information concerning the protection of intellectual property, carry out and promote studies in this field, and publish the results of such studies." WIPO Lex contains IP legal information of UN Members, as well as

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...

(WTO) Members pursuant to Article 2(4) of the Agreement between WIPO and WTO of December 22, 1995 and Article 63.2 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. WIPO Lex also covers international treaties related to intellectual property. In particular, the database includes all WIPO-administered treaties. CC-BY icon

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In 2014 the database included legal acts of 196 States and cumulatively contained 13 thousand entries. In 2022, the WIPO Lex Database contained 48,000 national, regional and international legal documents relating to intellectual property, with access in the six UN languages. The database is used as source of legal and reference information in universities and libraries all over the world.

Collections

The WIPO Lex database consists of three collections: IP laws, WIPO and other IP-related treaties, and IP judgments. WIPO Lex maintains IP legal collections for approximately 200 jurisdictions. The Database is curated and updated by experts, to provide up-to-date information on evolving IP laws, policies and their interpretations. The WIPO Lex laws collection contains legal instruments including constitutions, main IP laws and regulations, IP-related laws and IP legal literature. The legislative content covers 20 subject matter areas, including

patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

trademarks A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...

utility models A utility model is a patent-like intellectual property right to protect inventions. This type of right is available in many countries but, notably, not in the United States, United Kingdom or Canada. Although a utility model is similar to a patent ...

industrial designs Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactu ...

geographical indications A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, ...

traditional knowledge Traditional knowledge (TK), indigenous knowledge (IK) and local knowledge generally refer to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities. According to the World Intellectual Property Organ ...

, plant variety protection,

trade secrets Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that includes formulas, practices, processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that have inherent economic value because they are not generally known or readily as ...

, and others. The WIPO Lex treaties collection consists of both WIPO-administered treaties and related regulations and administrative documents, as well as other multilateral and regional IP treaties. The WIPO Lex judgments collection (

WIPO Judicial Institute The WIPO Judicial Institute was established in 2019 to coordinate and lead WIPO’s work with national and regional judiciaries. This work includes convening international meetings between judges, implementing judicial capacity building activities, ...

) was added in 2020, and consists of leading

judicial decision A judicial opinion is a form of legal opinion written by a judge or a judicial panel in the course of resolving a legal dispute, providing the decision reached to resolve the dispute, and usually indicating the facts which led to the dispute a ...

s on IP, organized by

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

, subject matter, issuing authority, and type of procedure. WIPO Lex supports other IP legal databases, including UPOV Lex, and collections of laws concerning traditional knowledge, trademarks, and industrial designs.

Features

The WIPO Lex database is organized by member profile, and is also searchable by collection, subject matter, and free-text queries. It provides individual bibliographic pages for each entry in the database. For the laws collection, the bibliographic entry displays information such as the dates types (adoption and entry into force, etc.), the type of text, subject matters and relations among the legislation. In some instances, legal notes published in the bibliographic entries are provided for additional information. Other features include additional language versions, links to related legislation and treaties, and archived superseded records of the law or regulation in question. In many instances, individual documents are bookmarked to assist users in identifying relevant provisions within the legislative text. A bibliographic entry in the treaties collection provides information on the host institution/depositary, contracting parties/signatories, subject matters, and available language versions of the treaty. In some instances, the bibliographic notes field provides additional information, such as identifying the relevant IP provisions within the text.

References

External links

* {{URL, http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/about.html, About WIPO Lex — official website of

WIPO The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishin ...

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WIPO Lex: Free Database of Intellectual Property Laws, Treaties and Judgments
- WIPO on Youtube Intellectual property law World Intellectual Property Organization Online law databases

Collections

Features

See also

References

External links