We have increasingly heard or read phrases like: 'IP is not an end in itself,' 'one size does not fit all,' 'developing countries need flexibilities and policy space,' 'IP rules must take into account the levels of development of each country,' 'IP is a cross cutting issue,' and so forth. These phrases have become mantras in IP policymaking and scholarship and have had important catalytic effects for international initiatives, such as the WIPO development agenda.
But what do these phrases and terminology mean, for example, in the area of copyright? Copyright laws and policies cover many controversial issues that are linked to different disciplines, in science, culture, technology, economics, law and other fields.
The concepts and issues in the field are also approached from different perspectives and with different political and economic agendas, sometimes in a misleading context, and often in an imprecise manner. For this reason, policymaking in the area of copyright, particularly in developing countries, has at best been guesswork and at worst uninformed. At the international level, debates and rule-making on copyright, as with other IP, are punctuated with propaganda, anecdotes and dogma. This is what Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and others have called 'faith-based' policymaking. Evidence to justify particular policies or laws is rare.
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