cord, the signatories are obliged to rewrite their national laws to conform to internationally agreed norms for protecting patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial designs, trade secrets, integrated circuits and geographical indications. The accord includes technological areas such as pharmaceutical products, compact discs and computer software -- not currently protected in many countries. Industrialized countries are given one year for implementation from the accord's entry into force on July 1, 1995. Developing countries and those shifting from centrally planned to market economies, such as China, have four to nine additional years for implementation, depending on the sectors. Least-developed countries have until 2006 to comply. In terms of copyrights, the trade related accord covers five new areas: (1) obligates signatories to comply with provisions of the Berne Convention,except for Convention's requirements on moral rights. (2) protects computer programs as literary work and databases as compilations under copyright. (3) imposes an immediate obligation on signatories to grant owners of computer programs and sound recordings the right to authorize or prohibit the rental of their products. (4) establishes a 50-year term for protection of sound recordings, as well as requiring signatories to provide protection for existing sound recordings. (5) sets minimum 50-year term for protection of motion pictures and other works where companies may be the author (Netscape3, 1995). More importantly, the accord also contains obligations to provide effective enforcement for copyrights both internally and at the borders. Under the accord, members are required to provide "expeditious remedies to prevent infringements and remedies which constitute a deterrent to further infringements" (Netscape3, 1995). The accord also requires that the rights holders have access to civil and administrative procedures and provides for criminal procedures "at least in cases of willful trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy on a commercial scale" (Netscape3, 1995). To settle disputes over copyrights, the Uruguay Round agreement also created the World Trade Organization (WTO) to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The WTO will facilitate the implementation and administration of the agreement. It integrates all the dispute-settlement procedures established under individual agreements. Disputes involving the accord or other aspects of the Uruguay Round agreement will be handled by the WTO General Council, acting as the Dispute Settlement Body. If a dispute settlement panel finds inadequate copyright protection or enforcement in a member country, the signatory bringing the complaint can retaliate in other sectors. VI. CONCLUSION International copyright protection becomes an important issue when creative works and products go beyond the borders of a country and when the country pursues to protect its copyrighted works in foreign countries. This is of special significance when modern technology has made the reproduction of protected works easier and cheaper. However, transnational copyright protection involves cooperation among countries, not individual persons. That is why no effective international copyright enforcement has been set up to punish copyright infringement worldwide, as is the case in national copyright laws in many nations. International copyright protection can be achieved only under national laws in those countries, which are committed to adequate copyright protection for foreign citizens and companies under international conventions and/or bilateral treaties. Besides, the issue of international copyright violation has always been closely related with national economic developments. This is especially true in developing countries which want to develop fast. For instance, countries, such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore, used to heavy pirates when their economies began to boom. However, when their knowledge industries become more mature, these countries gradually realize that they are both "producers" and "consumers" of knowledge and that they will also benefit from international copyright protection. Some developing countries, such as China, has taken a long-range perspective while fully understanding that they are now at a disadvantage in the international knowledge network. Because of this general recognition of copyright protection, almost all major developed and developing countries have decided, in the past decade, to join both the Berne Convention and the UCC (See Appendix 1). The increasing double membership of both the Berne Convention and the UCC among most major developed and developing countries reflects willingness of these countries toward establishing a more unified world order of copyright protection that respects human knowledge and that benefits all the mankind. Though with no strict enforcement power of international copyright violations, the two international conventions have, since their inception, provided a bridge among nations in the world to gain better understandings with each other as well as a set of flexible international rules with which nations, varied in their intentions and economic development levels, can play fair with each other. Of course, this doesn't mean the two international conventions can serve as a cure-all for international copyright disputes in the future. In fact, it can be predicted that potential conflicts over international copyright protection will continue to exist, even among member-states of both international conventions. Two reasons can be cited: (1) The Berne Convention and the UCC are still working independently with more differences and similarities, as discussed in Section IV. (2) Development of technologies, such as cable and satellite distribution and computer software, will continue to pose new challenges to international copyright protection as it did in the past. For instance, at present, the world is still divi

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