WIPO’s Policy Priorities in a World of Global Legal Pluralism: Alternative Dispute Resolution for Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) and the Protection of Audiovisual Performances

Abstract

The twenty-first century has become a century in which the global race for economic success and prosperity is becoming ever fiercer. In this global race, the design of intellectual property (IP) law regimes plays a central role for safeguarding innovations. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has, ever since its establishment in 1967, played a crucial role in designing and governing global IP protection. Recent years, however, have seen a rather rapidly changing environment that dramatically challenges its policy priorities. This paper argues that the changing nature of WIPO's policy priorities and strategies reflects a consistent shift from a fulfillment of public governance functions as intergovernmental organization towards also facilitating and supporting private governance of global IP policies. As such, this shift demonstrates a renewed self-confidence of WIPO as global regulatory institution in a new and pluralistic regulatory space. It follows that the changing nature of WIPO's policy priorities can be theorized and conceptualized as an emanation of ever stronger global legal pluralism in international IP law.