Alongside the development of new digital technologies, traditional “creative industries” (movie, recording and publishing) have achieved a global marketplace, therefore facing the issues of a new environment of intense global exchange. The international expansion of copyright law reflects the threats and opportunities of creative expression in a digitized world. On the one side, the rise of digital technologies has made creative authors and artists’ interests particularly vulnerable to disregard, infringement and abuse. Copyright law pursues the protection of their interests, with particular emphasis on commercial aspects, virtually becoming the only channel between the world of ideas and arts and the world of commerce. On the other side, the commodification of knowledge improves the economic power of cultural industries, channeling the individual creative expression in the rough current of global trade, where the preservation of heritage and encouragement of creativity struggle to float. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) promotes effective and adequate protection of intellectual property rights in order to reduce distortions and impediments to international trade. The new framework expressed in the link of intellectual property right with international trade is altering the preexisting balance between cultural and commercial interests in knowledge and, substantially, the power of authors to control their works against publishers who commercialize them and a public that receives, experiences and reuses them. The TRIPs Agreement throw off balance to the trade-related side and is likely to affect the arts, creativity and cultural heritage in the long term. In the context of a digital environment that makes creating and contributing to the culture easier than ever, the public is increasingly involved in the creative work of author and artists and opposed to their commercial exploiters. Anti-copyright activists advocate approaches such as “free culture”, “open source” and “copy left” in order to unchain and promote creative expression outside copyright-tight, corporate control, which is the key concept of a permissive and participatory system (“read/write culture”) where efforts to improve upon, change, integrate or “remix” knowledge encourage creativity, as opposed to “permission (or read only) culture” societies, where copyright holders require payment for each use of even derivative work.Introductory questions:This paper is ultimately concerned with the issues arousing from the recently developed intertwinement of international trade law and art. The attempt to answer the following questions sets the perennial clash of philistinism and culture on the spotlight of our digital age:Does the greater ease of copying and distributing require more or less stringent intellectual property laws? What would be their impact on creativity?Is the international trade law upsetting the delicate balance between artists, publishers and public, the traditional actors of copyright law?Does the digital environment entitle the public to a participatory role in the creation of knowledge? Does it also challenge the artists not to stand by an oblivious role subordinate to the corporate side of the creative industries? Is there a better way beyond intellectual trade law for the creative industry to adapt to the digital age while still paying its artists their due? ContentsI. International standards for the protection of IP rightsII. International trade law of IPIII. IP rights and digital mediaIV. The international harmonization of IP rightsV. Balancing the interests of creators, copyright industry and consumersVI. New patterns emerging from international copyright lawVII. Paracopyright and legal protection for technical measuresVIII. The new wave of Free Culture/Copy Left in art and lawIX. The paradigm of Creative CommonsX. The debate on public domain of creativity in the digital information age