B. Developing the Security System

Examining the contemporary world order, Hardt and Negri mention two big theories. The first theory argues that the world history has shown its long attachment for the pro-capitalism system while the second one says that the existing world order today is just the continuation and the perfection of the old practice of imperialism.

Developing the idea from those theories further, they find that the source of conflict and competition among imperialist countries no longer exist, “replaced by the idea of single power that overdetermines them all, structures them in a unitary way, and treats them under one common notion of right that is decidedly postcolonial and postimperialist” (Hardt & Negri 2000: 9). This is the kind of replacement which has a major impact on international relations.

Shifting back onto the field of law, especially the copyright issue—a concept inseparable from the discussion about piracy, I find Hardt and Negri's thinking echoes through the work of law scholar Ricketson (1987) as quoted by Saunders (1992: 170). He confirms the fact that the world law order has moved steadily to the enactment of a standard global view.

In Grosheide (1994), there is a reminder that to understand the relation between the existence of law order which has a major impact at international level, and knowledge economy, one has to hold the view that free market is the only way to market intellectual and cultural products (Grosheide 1994: 204).

In the realm of the pro-market perspective, the interest in copyright is growing. The copyright as stated in Berne Convention and European copyright law means the natural right and the moral right inherent in the creator of a particular intellectual product (Altbach 1987, Rose 1993, Strowel 1994). It has its first meaning transformation process when it is acknowledged as  the most appropriate concept, the best weapon, caters for the security of both the communication and trade routes of those products. This additional economical value is also shaped by the meaning of copyright as a way to encourage intellectual creativity and invention as stated in the U.S. Constitution.

The interest in copyright is then followed by the internationalization of it, a process that was partly influenced by significant changes at international level in the nineteenth century. What have those changes shown are radical transformations from bilateral relationships in limited working areas into multilateral relationships in international ones.

From a relationship which is limited in scope involving only two or three countries, it has developed into one involving a large number of countries and also into the practice of international diplomacy crossing wider frontiers between countries. As the multilateral relationships on various sectors is developing, the human-made-giant with sovereignty over other countries is on the making. It is in the form of new sovereignty lies the profound power which defined as Empire by Hardt and Negri. This sovereignty is “composed of a series of national and supranational organisms united under a single logic of rule” (Hardt & Negri 2000: xii).

The combination of the higher economical value of cultural products, desire to control its trade routes, changing mode of international environment, and handing international authority over to “supranational organisms” or international organizations, has paved the way for internationalization of copyright.

Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works ratified in 1887 was considered an important step, pioneering the attempt to form a meta organization with the power to regulate copyright at international level. Saunders states the development of organizations focusing on copyright was proliferated since 1910 where the total number of non governmental and international organizations reached 530. Continuing this development, there was a dramatic increase in 1980, where the number of them reached 6600 (Saunders 1992: 168).

The incorporation of copyright as an important component into the works of international organizations from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1967, The Uruguay Round in 1994, to World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 provides the clear examples of the usage of it as a part of international trade regime.

I quote the summaries of some parts of WTO agreement in which copyright is playing a major role: “a national treatment commitment under which the nationals of other parties must be given treatment no less favourable than that accorded to a party's own nationals with regard to the protection of intellectual property”, “parties in WTO are required to comply with the substantive provisions of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in its latest version (Paris 1971)”, “the obligation of member governments to provide procedures and remedies under their domestic law to ensure that intellectual property rights can be effectively enforced by foreign right holders as well as by their nationals” (WTO's official website).

The copyright regime has created. A regime which performs the advanced “politization of the copyright”, as put by Aguiar (2007). This also reflects the second meaning transformation process of copyright since it has shifted its emphasis from a concept regulating trade into a political tool extensively used in cultural diplomacy.

I find that Kohler (1964)—as quoted by Grosheide (1994)—rightly indicates this situation that “mankind constantly progresses in culture in the sense that permanent culture values are produced, and the man becomes more and more god-like in knowledge and mastery of the earth”.

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