BIRPI established in Bern

Background. The Berne Convention (1886) and Paris Convention (1883) established frameworks for protecting literary works and industrial property respectively. Each convention created an International Bureau to administer its provisions. These bureaux were placed under the high supervision of the Swiss government, setting the stage for their eventual merger into a single entity in Bern.

Establishment of BIRPI. In 1893, the two small bureaux administering the Berne and Paris Conventions merged and became the United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property (BIRPI), situated in Berne. The Swiss government combined them with the same director and staff. WIPO superseded BIRPI 87 years later, in 1970.

Governance and Supervision. The bureaux that formed BIRPI were subject to the high supervision of the Government of the Swiss Confederation. This oversight ensured that the administration of the Berne and Paris Conventions remained aligned with Swiss legal frameworks. The merger in 1893 formalized this shared administrative structure under a single director.