Background paper

Digital technologies and copyright: international trends and implications for developing countries

Valente, M. G. (2020). Digital technologies and copyright: international trends and implications for developing countries. Digital Pathways at Oxford Paper Series; no. 1. Oxford, United Kingdom.

This paper argues that recent policy developments and negotiations are expanding copyright protection related to digital technologies, as a result of demands from multinational industries. It draws on literature and interviews with civil society stakeholders to question whether this expansion reflects the economic interests of developing nations or whether they could deepen geopolitical inequalities. It also considers how, in a connected world, policymaking in one country or region that holds economic power in the digital environment can be enforced by others, and how the effects of this might be specially felt in developing nations.

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