WIPO and WTO :
WIPO expanded its role and further demonstrated the importance of intellectual property rights in the management of globalized trade in 1996 by entering into a cooperation agreement with the World Trade Organization (WTO). It provides for co-operation concerning the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement, such as notification of laws and regulations and legal-technical assistance and technical co-operation in favour of developing countries. In July 1998, a joint initiative to help developing countries meet their TRIPS obligations till the year 2000 was launched.
Mention should be made that today WIPO, administers 24 treaties (three of those jointly with other international organizations) and carries out a rich and varied program of work, through its member States and secretariat, that seeks to:
• harmonize national intellectual property legislation and procedures,
• provide services for international applications for industrial property rights,
• exchange intellectual property information,
• provide legal and technical assistance to developing and other countries,
• facilitate the resolution of private intellectual property disputes, and
• marshal information technology as a tool for storing, accessing, and using valuable intellectual property information.