Tony Bennett, Differing diversities - Council of Europe

Differing diversitiesworks, and the impact of authors’ moral rights on creativity and culture remainhighly controversial. While these issues are too complex to lend themselvesdirectly to empirical analyses, a more sophisticated examination of what theyinvolve, including their empirical aspects, may help policy makers to frame culturaldiversity policies far more effectively.Relationship between international copyright and regional copyrightThe study of international developments in intellectual property has also largelyneglected the relationship between international copyright law and regionalapproaches to copyright. Notably, the European Union has been a major site of developmentin copyright standards, where efforts to harmonise the laws of member statesare embodied in five copyright harmonisation directives, to date. 1 European copyrighthas developed in tandem with the TRIPs/WTO system. 2 Its influence on internationalintellectual property law may be significant, particularly in view of the importance oftrade in culture and technology between European Union countries and the UnitedStates. 3 Moreover, the question of how European Union copyright law interacts withthe TRIPs Agreement remains largely unresolved (Caviedes, 1998: 228).European intellectual property developments have also been driven by the need tointegrate the formerly socialist countries of eastern Europe into the ambit of theEuropean Union. These countries may either be admitted directly to full EuropeanUnion membership, 4 or they may participate in agreements which facilitate trade andcultural exchange with the EU. 5 The new legal perspectives and different culturalrealities which these countries may introduce into the international copyright regimeremain poorly explored. In particular, the highly publicised, potential membership ofthe Russian Federation in the WTO, and the recent admission of China to the WTOclub, may bring unexpected pressures to bear on the international framework forcopyright protection. These countries bring to the international arena a historicallegacy of oppression, a complex and distinguished cultural past, and notoriously lowlevels of compliance with current copyright standards. These factors may generate aneed to re-examine conventional wisdom about the desirability and effectiveness ofthe international copyright standards established in the TRIPs Agreement.European integration, culture, and copyrightWith the collapse of socialist regimes in eastern Europe and the former SovietUnion, intellectual property specialists have become interested in the problems__________1. The directives are summarised by Caviedes (1998: 207-221).2. Caviedes (1998: 166-168) emphasises this point.3. This point is made by Crews (1998: 117).4. But see Karel, 1997: 221-222. He points out that the expansion of the EU depends on the economic situationof the Union, and, therefore, may not become a reality for some time: he observes that the accessionprocess has so far been characterised by “vague words” and “ill-defined assurances” from the EU, inlieu of specific commitments.5. The Russian Agreement on Partnership and Co-operation with the European Union of 1994 is oneexample: see Elst, 1996: 276-285.146