Research On The American Digital Intellectual Property Rules And Its Digital Trade Effect Under The Framework Of RTAs

Digital trade plays an increasingly important role in international trade and world economy.It not only promotes the recovery of global economy after the financial crisis,but also changes the production,delivery and consumption of goods and services at home and abroad.The products and services of digital trade are mostly knowledge intensive.With the progress of digital technology,digital trade not only provides new opportunities for intellectual property protection,but also puts forward new requirements and challenges.In consideration of the research objectives,this paper defines digital trade as "Digitally-Enabled Trade in Services".Digital intellectual property is the intellectual property related to digital trade,or the intellectual property problems in digital trade activities.American digital intellectual property rules refer to the digital intellectual property rules that can reflect the demands of the United States,conform to the will of the United States,and have been actively promoted and widely influenced by the United States.The United States attaches great importance to the protection of digital intellectual property rights and is a leader in the global negotiation of digital intellectual property rules.Regional trade agreements are an important platform for the United States to promote American digital intellectual property rules.The impact of intellectual property protection on trade is theoretically uncertain,so how to evaluate the rationality of American digital intellectual property rules under RTAs framework is particularly important.Based on the existing research,this paper combs the economic and trade theories related to the protection of digital intellectual property rights from the theoretical and mechanism analysis,and provides theoretical support for the next research.Then,this paper focuses on the background and development of American digital intellectual property rules under the framework of RTAs,and further introduces the specific connotation and upgrading trend of representative rules.Finally,this paper makes empirical research on the trade effect of American digital intellectual property rules under the framework of RTAs.The main contents of this paper are summarized as follows:Firstly,this paper explains the formation theory of American digital intellectual property rules and the trade effect theory of digital intellectual property protection.Based on Product Life Cycle theory,the United States attaches importance to the protection of digital intellectual property rights,in order to expand the life cycle of digital products,and thus obtain more benefits.Based on theory of Center-Periphery,the purpose of the active promotion of American digital intellectual property rules is to maintain the "center" position of the United States,and then establish a digital trade network centering on itself.Based on Economies of Scale Theory,the United States emphasizes the protection of appropriate digital intellectual property rights in order to promote increasing returns to scale of digital technology.Secondly,the paper discusses the possible forms of the two effects in the protection of digital intellectual property by using the theory of "market expansion effect" and "market power effect".The basic conclusion is that the improvement of the protection level of digital intellectual property can promote the export of digital trade.The paper further discusses the possible influence of the threat of imitation on the two effects,and concludes that strengthening the protection of digital intellectual property rights can promote the export to countries with high imitation threat.Finally,this paper expands the theoretical framework of "ownership-location-internalization" to analyze that digital intellectual property protection is more likely to promote digital trade exports than FDI and technology licensing.Next,this paper analyzes the formation and evolution of American digital intellectual property rules under the RTAs framework.Firstly,this paper analyzes the background of the formation of American digital intellectual property rules under the RTAs framework from three perspectives:first,the opportunities and challenges brought by the development of digital technology to intellectual property rights;second,the failure of WTO in regulating digital intellectual property rights;third,the global economy presents a service-oriented trend.The important interests of the United States in digital economy,digital trade related industries and intellectual property related industries are the industrial basis for the formation of American digital intellectual property rules under the RTAs framework.The domestic legislation on digital intellectual property protection in the United States is the legal basis for the formation of American digital intellectual property rules under the framework of RTAs.Under the framework of RTAs,the development of American digital intellectual property rules has experienced three stages,which reflects the development process of terms from less to more,rules from shallow to deep,and protection standards from low to high.In addition,the United States has actively promoted the expansion and penetration of American digital intellectual property rules worldwide.The major economies in the world have accepted the American digital intellectual property rules to varying degrees.Subsequently,this paper analyzes the specific connotation,development and evolution trend of representative American digital intellectual property rules under the RTAs framework,as well as the differences and games between different economies.There are mainly five kinds of rules: copyright protection of digital content,noncompulsory localization of source code,responsibility of Internet Service Providers,trade secret protection in computer and electronic trademark system.Among them,the copyright protection of digital content can be subdivided into three specific terms: "extension of copyright protection period","electronic reproduction included in the scope of reproduction right" and "commitment to the government to only use authorized software".Non-compulsory localization of source code can be subdivided into three specific terms: "not to require the transfer of source code as a condition for market access","applying non-compulsory localization of source code to infrastructure software" and "not to require the transfer of algorithms in source code as a condition for market access".The liability of Internet Service Providers can be subdivided into two specific terms: "providing legal incentives for Internet Service Providers" and "exemption restrictions for Internet Service Providers".The United States actively promotes the above representative rules,while China,the European Union and other economies have different degrees of differences with the United States on several kinds of rules.Finally,this paper analyzes the digital trade effect of American digital intellectual property rules in the framework of RTAs.Firstly,this paper analyzes the acceptance status of American digital intellectual property rules under RTAs framework,and uses " Provision Count Index " to construct "American digital intellectual property rules index under RTAs framework".Next,based on the extended gravity model,using the panel data of bilateral digital trade from 2014 to 2018,this paper empirically tests the impact of signing RTAs covering American digital intellectual property rules on the digital trade exports of contracting parties by using static panel data and dynamic panel data.The results show that:(1)the signing of RTAs with American digital intellectual property clauses can effectively promote the digital trade export of both parties;(2)the signing of RTAs with American digital intellectual property clauses can effectively promote the export to the economies with strong imitation threat.Finally,the heterogeneity analysis is carried out,and the results show that the signing of RTAs covering American digital intellectual property rules:(1)can promote the export of digital trade in developed and developing economies,but there is a lag effect for developing economies;(2)the effect of promoting the export of intellectual property services and telecommunications,computer and information services is the most significant,while the effect of financial services is not significant;(3)the five representative American digital intellectual property rules all have significant roles in promoting the export of digital trade.Based on the conclusion of the full paper,this paper thinks that China can start from improving the level of digital intellectual property protection,actively participate in the digital intellectual property rules negotiation under the RTAs framework,appropriately dock the high standard American digital intellectual property rules in the trade agreement negotiation,and constantly optimize and upgrade the industrial structure,so as to promote the development of digital trade.