ABSTRACT
This study examines the impact that internationalisation and external trade has had on the development of national copyright laws in Asia and Australasia, especially in the era of the digital knowledge economy. Entry into the international trade system necessitates accession to a number of copyright and trade treaties such as TRIPS. Regional trade agreements, whether bilateral or plurilateral, between Asian and non-Asian states also often involve a number of copyright-related provisions. But states also have to manage their own national cultural and information policies and other socio-economic interests, in order to strike a balance between the two poles of universalism and pluralism, both of which international copyright law requires and acknowledges. By examining the laws of Asian and Australasian states relating to copyright issues typically dealt with in knowledge-based economies, this study concludes that the copyright laws of developed economies such as the US and Europe exercise a disproportionately large influence over the laws of Asian economies predominantly through regional trade agreements, which then modulate the role of the WTO in articulating minimum standards of international and domestic copyright law.
Seng, Daniel Kiat Boon and Lim, Shaun, Copyright Pluralism or Universalism in the Digital Knowledge Economy in Asia and Australasia (March 17, 2021). Pluralism or Universalism in International Copyright Law.
First posted 2021-03-20 09:26:26
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