The WTO is an organization devoted to the rules of international trade.

According to its website, the WTO's "main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible."

The WTO is responsible for, among other things, the TRIPS agreement, which was the first time and place that copyright issues became a focus of an international trade agreement.

See also:

• TRIPS

Other resources:

• WTO website
• The WTO in Brief
• TRIPS materials on WTO website
• WTO index of disputes issues
• WTO website: Uraguay Round Agreement: TRIPS Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
• WIRED magazine article: "China Pledges WTO Copyright, Trademark Cooperation"
• China Daily article: "US urged to withdraw WTO copyright complaint"
• New York Times article: "W.T.O. Finds China Copyright Law Lacking"
• ReadWriteWeb article: "Gad-Zookz! WTO to Allow Copyright Infringement?" (Antigua)
• WTO page for Panama: Industrial Property (WTO Copyright), Law (Title VII Art. 286 & 291
• Media release: "WTO Copyright Win a Boom for Australian Musicians"
• European Commission WTO copyright infringement procedure against Japan
• Article: "Toward Supranational Copyright Law? The WTO Panel Decision and the 'Three-Step Test' for Copyright Exceptions"
• Article: "Impact of WTO’s Copyright Protection to Library Operations & Academic Communications"
• Article: "TRIPS into the unknown: Libraries and the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
• Text of US Code of Federal Regulations: Restoration of Certain Berne and WTO Works
• Article: "A Marxist Analysis of the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights"
• The IFLA Position on The World Trade Organization (available in Chinese, French and German
• The IFLA Position on WTO Treaty Negotiations