international bureau for the protection of intellectual property
International Bureau for the Protection of Intellectual Property. Copyright. A predecessor of the World Intellectual Property Organization. • The bureau was created by combining the Paris Convention’s Secretariat (the International Bureau for the Paris Convention) with the Berne Copyright Convention of 1886. It was supervised by the Swiss government until 1970, when the bureau became part of WIPO. — Also termed Bureaux Internationaux Reunis pour la Protection de la Propriete Intellectuelle; BIRPI.