The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing - International Trade Law and Creative Expression in the Digital Information Age

18 Pages Posted: 31 May 2011

See all articles by Giovanni Di Lieto

Giovanni Di Lieto

Monash University, Business School, Department of Business Law and Taxation

Date Written: October 29, 2010

Abstract

Alongside the development of new digital technologies, traditional “creative industries” (movie, recording and publishing) have achieved a global marketplace, therefore facing the issues of a new environment of intense global exchange.

The international expansion of copyright law reflects the threats and opportunities of creative expression in a digitized world. On the one side, the rise of digital technologies has made creative authors and artists’ interests particularly vulnerable to disregard, infringement and abuse. Copyright law pursues the protection of their interests, with particular emphasis on commercial aspects, virtually becoming the only channel between the world of ideas and arts and the world of commerce.

On the other side, the commodification of knowledge improves the economic power of cultural industries, channeling the individual creative expression in the rough current of global trade, where the preservation of heritage and encouragement of creativity struggle to float.

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) promotes effective and adequate protection of intellectual property rights in order to reduce distortions and impediments to international trade. The new framework expressed in the link of intellectual property right with international trade is altering the preexisting balance between cultural and commercial interests in knowledge and, substantially, the power of authors to control their works against publishers who commercialize them and a public that receives, experiences and reuses them. The TRIPs Agreement throw off balance to the trade-related side and is likely to affect the arts, creativity and cultural heritage in the long term.

In the context of a digital environment that makes creating and contributing to the culture easier than ever, the public is increasingly involved in the creative work of author and artists and opposed to their commercial exploiters.

Anti-copyright activists advocate approaches such as “free culture”, “open source” and “copy left” in order to unchain and promote creative expression outside copyright-tight, corporate control, which is the key concept of a permissive and participatory system (“read/write culture”) where efforts to improve upon, change, integrate or “remix” knowledge encourage creativity, as opposed to “permission (or read only) culture” societies, where copyright holders require payment for each use of even derivative work.

Introductory questions:

This paper is ultimately concerned with the issues arousing from the recently developed intertwinement of international trade law and art. The attempt to answer the following questions sets the perennial clash of philistinism and culture on the spotlight of our digital age:

Does the greater ease of copying and distributing require more or less stringent intellectual property laws? What would be their impact on creativity?

Is the international trade law upsetting the delicate balance between artists, publishers and public, the traditional actors of copyright law?

Does the digital environment entitle the public to a participatory role in the creation of knowledge? Does it also challenge the artists not to stand by an oblivious role subordinate to the corporate side of the creative industries?

Is there a better way beyond intellectual trade law for the creative industry to adapt to the digital age while still paying its artists their due? Contents

I. International standards for the protection of IP rights II. International trade law of IP III. IP rights and digital media IV. The international harmonization of IP rights V. Balancing the interests of creators, copyright industry and consumers VI. New patterns emerging from international copyright law VII. Paracopyright and legal protection for technical measures VIII. The new wave of Free Culture/Copy Left in art and law IX. The paradigm of Creative Commons X. The debate on public domain of creativity in the digital information age

Keywords: intellectual property/copyright law, public domain/creative commons, authorship, entertainment/creative industry, end-users/consumers, free culture/copy left, international trade law, digital information age

JEL Classification: F02, K33

Suggested Citation

Di Lieto, Giovanni, The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing - International Trade Law and Creative Expression in the Digital Information Age (October 29, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1854763 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1854763

Giovanni Di Lieto (Contact Author)

Monash University, Business School, Department of Business Law and Taxation ( email )

L7
271 Collins Street
Melbourne, Victoria 3000
Australia

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