On 14 July 1967, in Stockholm, the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO Convention) is signed — the treaty creating WIPO as the specialised agency for intellectual property.

The Convention defines goals of promoting IP protection worldwide, administers the Paris and Berne Unions and prepares the transformation of the United International Bureaux (BIRPI) into WIPO.

Entry into force: 26 April 1970. WIPO later becomes a UN agency, headquartered in Geneva.

The instrument responds to the growth of international trade in technology and culture in the 1960s.

For intellectual property law, 14 July 1967 marks the legal birth of WIPO.

The official text is on the WIPO site / WIPO Lex.

The WIPO Convention of 14 July 1967 remains the constitutive act of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Image: WIPO / Stockholm; Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: WIPO Convention. Treaty text: Convention Establishing WIPO (WIPO Lex).