The Digital Creative Trade and Copyright-Based Industries in the Contemporary Knowledge Economy

Barbados - 31 July 2019

Trade topics: Intellectual Property

Paper for WTO publication entitled Trade in Knowledge, edited by Jayashree Watal and Anthony Taubman.

This paper addresses trade-related aspects of copyright, assesses the challenges and opportunities for creative industries in developing countries, especially, as it relates to making the transition to a digital creative economy and the adoption of block-chain technologies. The music industry is used as a case study because it is the creative sector which has experienced the greatest level of digital disruption and also among the first to embrace block-chain. The music industries in developing countries are highlighted given the long-term challenges of market integration in global value chains/networks. The paper explores block-chain technologies as one element of the digital economy in its capacity to present opportunities for these countries to increase market penetration and deepen global value-added.

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