WIPO Magazine

Issue Number

Latest documents

• Introducing WIPO PROOF: an interview with Francis Gurry

  WIPO Director General Francis Gurry introduces WIPO PROOF, the latest in the Organization’s suite of IP business services and reflects on the broader issue of data governance and the importance of innovation and creativity in tackling current economic and health challenges.

• Intellectual property, innovation, access and COVID-19

  WIPO Director General Francis Gurry reflects on measures that can be undertaken by governments and market actors to enhance innovation performance and, specifically, innovation outcomes that will contribute to the mitigation and, ultimately, the resolution of the COVID-19 crisis.

• Baidu's AI-related patented technologies: Doing battle with COVID-19

  Find out how China’s pioneering tech giant, Baidu, has been at the forefront of efforts to deploy its AI-based expertise and technologies to help overcome some of the key challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Drug repurposing and the COVID-19 pandemic

  The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted worldwide interest in the repurposing of drugs such as remdesivir and dexamethasone. Repurposing can be crucial for delivering new treatments to patients, but also raises a number of IP-related questions.

• The written word can still change the world

  The written word in its most basic form enables a transfer of knowledge from the ideas of an author directly into the hearts and minds of readers across the world. For centuries, it has transformed our society and in 2020, we need the written word - and, indeed, publishers - more than ever. Michiel Kolman explains why.

• Climate change: the time to act is now

  Climate change is one of the most urgent and complex challenges of our time. Can humanity’s capacity for creativity and innovation really save the world?

• Airbus: making the blue skies green

  Find out what Airbus, the world’s biggest aircraft manufacturer, is doing to tackle climate change

• Climate action and sustainability: Indigenous peoples are part of the solution

  As the global community focuses on ways to combat the effects of climate change and to transition to a low-carbon future, it must not forget to engage with Indigenous peoples. Find out why this is so important?

• Bio-engineering: unlocking nature’s treasures

  For Professor Oded Shoseyov, a pioneering materials engineer, serial inventor and entrepreneur, nature is a source of inspiration. He discusses some of his most significant inventions and how IP rights help ensure they are widely accessible to society.

• Water quality and inequality

  By 2025, half of the world’s population will be living in areas suffering water stress. Researchers at the University of Birmingham in the UK have developed a desalination solution to treat groundwater in remote inland areas. It works “off-grid,” is powered by renewable energy, and is easy to maintain.

Featured documents

• Drug repurposing and the COVID-19 pandemic

  The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted worldwide interest in the repurposing of drugs such as remdesivir and dexamethasone. Repurposing can be crucial for delivering new treatments to patients, but also raises a number of IP-related questions....

• Video games: computer programs or creative works?
• Intellectual property in a data-driven world
• Artificial intelligence: the new electricity
• Bringing AI to life

  Sophia the Robot, the humanoid robot from Hanson Robotics, has become a global cultural icon. Her maker, David Hanson, CEO and Founder of Hanson Robotics, shares his vision of a future built around superintelligence....

• 3D printing, the Maker Movement, IP litigation and legal reform
• Water quality and inequality

  By 2025, half of the world’s population will be living in areas suffering water stress. Researchers at the University of Birmingham in the UK have developed a desalination solution to treat groundwater in remote inland areas. It works “off-grid,” is powered by renewable energy, and is easy to...

• Intellectual property and e-commerce: Alibaba’s perspective

  E-commerce emerged in China just 25 years ago, in 1993. Two years later, the country’s first e-commerce company was established, and three years after that, in 1998, the first e-commerce transaction took place. From these modest beginnings, China’s e-commerce landscape has evolved beyond...

• Intellectual property, innovation, access and COVID-19

  WIPO Director General Francis Gurry reflects on measures that can be undertaken by governments and market actors to enhance innovation performance and, specifically, innovation outcomes that will contribute to the mitigation and, ultimately, the resolution of the COVID-19 crisis....

• Blurred Lines: The difference between inspiration and appropriation

  If songwriters were unclear about the line between taking “inspiration” from someone else’s work and actually copying it, they may be even more confused following a US federal jury’s decision in the “Blurred Lines” case, especially in the era of hip hop and rap, where sampling and referencing are...