Fascinating analysis of how IP became a trade weapon. The shift from WIPO to GATT was genius becaue it moved enforcement from voluntary norms to market sanctions. What's intresting is how this 1980s framework is now biting back with China deploying the same playbook. They're using domestic preference and tech mandates to leverage their market just like the US did.
This is a valuable reminder that the global IP regime we now take for granted was not inevitable — it was constructed through trade pressure at a specific historical moment. For Canada, that settlement came with a lasting trade-off: we gained predictability and access to key markets, but at the cost of policy room to maneuver, particularly as a net importer of intellectual property.
That bargain made sense in the late 1980s. Its downstream effects — on pharmaceuticals, technology, and now data and AI — are still with us, and deserve closer examination in today’s policy debates.
Thank you Hansard, I am slightly better informed. A limitation of my tech knowledge. Would it be possible for you to explore the issue of the Digital Services Act and US opposition? That one I need help with.
I suspect that the digital rights management is part of what gives big tech a choke hold over the world. It irks me no end that I pay for ebooks and am forever locked into Amazon, which quite frankly is an awful publisher. They do virtually none of the creative work, the writing, the editing, the layout or design but to access their online market place, a DRM code is inserted into the ebook...If I walked into a book store and bought a hard copy of the book, the bookstore would not later come into my library to remove my book. But Amazon does that with ebooks. The same code makes it difficult for new tech companies to build better digital service companies.
I would recommend Libro.fm - works like audible but you can download your audiobooks and keep them. No DRM. Also part of your purchase can go to a local bookstore.
Fascinating analysis of how IP became a trade weapon. The shift from WIPO to GATT was genius becaue it moved enforcement from voluntary norms to market sanctions. What's intresting is how this 1980s framework is now biting back with China deploying the same playbook. They're using domestic preference and tech mandates to leverage their market just like the US did.
This is a valuable reminder that the global IP regime we now take for granted was not inevitable — it was constructed through trade pressure at a specific historical moment. For Canada, that settlement came with a lasting trade-off: we gained predictability and access to key markets, but at the cost of policy room to maneuver, particularly as a net importer of intellectual property.
That bargain made sense in the late 1980s. Its downstream effects — on pharmaceuticals, technology, and now data and AI — are still with us, and deserve closer examination in today’s policy debates.
Thank you Hansard, I am slightly better informed. A limitation of my tech knowledge. Would it be possible for you to explore the issue of the Digital Services Act and US opposition? That one I need help with.
I will add that to my list!
Sorry to had to your extensive projects in progress, but thanks!
I suspect that the digital rights management is part of what gives big tech a choke hold over the world. It irks me no end that I pay for ebooks and am forever locked into Amazon, which quite frankly is an awful publisher. They do virtually none of the creative work, the writing, the editing, the layout or design but to access their online market place, a DRM code is inserted into the ebook...If I walked into a book store and bought a hard copy of the book, the bookstore would not later come into my library to remove my book. But Amazon does that with ebooks. The same code makes it difficult for new tech companies to build better digital service companies.
I would recommend Libro.fm - works like audible but you can download your audiobooks and keep them. No DRM. Also part of your purchase can go to a local bookstore.
Thank you. I do but regular books but sometimes ebooks are the only relatively affordable option.