… The World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO, is a specialized agency that establishes patents for creative and innovative work throughout the world in order to protect intellectual property. WIPO is one of the 16 branches of the United Nations. It strives to encourage creative activity, and to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world. The World Intellectual Property Organization works through committees composed of members of the United Nations to determine international patents. Patents are usually granted after an application is submitted for a new, inventive, and useful invention or finding. The application is evaluated to determine whether a creation is new or already owned or claimed by somebody else. As there are millions of patents already established around the world, this requires an enormous amount of research to make sure that an invention is original. Patent law gives the patent owner exclusive rights to the invention, which allows one to exclude others from making, profiting from, using, or importing the patented creation. Because patents are given for a fixed period of time, people may begin to use the patented item after the granted exclusivity rights have expired. However, a patent owner may sell or permit others to use the international patent if they so choose. Disputes over international patents are typically enforced through civil lawsuits.