International Intellectual Property

Global

• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
• International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants

Africa

• African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) is composed of 17 members in central/western Africa, most of the nations have French as one official language.
• African Regional Industrial Property Organization (ARIPO) website was down for extended periods of time in late May...

Americas

• The TriLateral Co-operation, begun in 1983 and comprised of the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
• fiveIPoffices, made up of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), and the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO).

Asia - Pacific

• Eurasian Patent Organization, whose eight members are: the Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, the Republic of Belarus, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan Republic, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Moldovahas.

Europe

• European Patent Office (EPO)
• Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) with Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg as the member states.
• Nordic Patent Institute a collaboration of the Danish Patent and Trademark Office, Norwegian Industrial Property Office, and Icelandic Patent Office. It acts as an International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority in the PCT system.
• Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, (OHIM) dealing with EU trademarks and designs.

Middle East

• Gulf Cooperation Council Patent Office (GCCPO) whose member states are the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, State of Qatar, and State of Kuwait.

Global

• World Trade Organization For basic TRIPS overviews and other material click here.

Africa

• Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) includes 22 nations, who have agreed to jointly develop patent and IP laws, per Article 128 of the Common Market establishment agreement.
• Other trade agreements for countries in Africa can be found in the sources listed here in the Treaties page of this guide and from the WTO's Regional Trade Agreements RTA database, and the World Bank's GPTAD database.

Americas

• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Canada, U.S. & Mexico. IP is covered in Chapter 17 of the treaty.
• Central America Free Trade Agreeement (CAFTA-DR) links to the OAS CAFTA site. IPRs are contained in Chapter 15 of the agreement.
• The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has 15 member states. IP is covered in Article 66 of the treaty as revised.
• The Andean Community (Google Chrome translates the site well) comprised of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, has established a common regime for IP rights and enforcement.
• The Mercado Comun del Sur (MERCOSUR) (Google Chrome translates the site well) is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. It established common IP norms in 1995.

Asia - Pacific

• Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) has 21 Pacific Rim member states, including Russia. The organization does not have mandatory IP objectives.

Europe

• The European Union, now consisting of 27 nations, is the latest evolution of previous economic common market alliances in the region.
• Other trade agreements, and there are many, can be found in the sources listed here in the Treaties page of this guide and from the WTO's Regional Trade Agreements RTA database, and the World Bank's GPTAD database.

Middle East

• The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) consists of six member states who cooperate under a common patent law.