Patents, copyright, trademarks, and designs—the stuff of intellectual property, or “a commercially valuable product of the human intellect, in a concrete or abstract form such as a copyrightable work, a protectable trademark, a patentable invention, or a trade secret,” to quote Black’s Law Dictionary. If you’ve ever written a book, that’s intellectual property. If you own a franchise, it also qualifies. If you’ve trademarked a slogan, bingo. Today is World Intellectual Property Day, observed each year and spearheaded by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) since 2000 to raise awareness of the special privileges and rights conferred by copyrights, trademarks, patents, and so on. WIPO’s other purpose for April 26 is to “celebrate creativity ... and the contribution of innovators” as key forces in societies and economies. WIPO’s Geneva headquarters is comprised of several campus buildings, including a 1961 building designed by Pierre Braillard and a 2014 building designed by renowned Swiss firm Behnisch Architekten.
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