AN ANALYSIS ON THE TOPIC: “TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION AND POWER” : WEAPONIZATION OF COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS Introduction To comprehend the ongoing shifts in global power structures driven by the transition toward technology - focused governance, one must examine the international landscape through a sociological lens. In his foundational framework, Network Society Theory, inte rnationally revered sociologist Manuel Castells explains how the structural shift from an industrial economy to an informational economy has fundamentally reconfigured global power, culture, and social dynamics. This theory rests on two core principles. Fi rst, modern society is no longer anchored strictly by physical territories or traditional institutional hierarchies; instead, macroscopic societal functions are dictated by global digital networks, precipitating the erosion of state sovereignty, the rise o f corporate states, expanded cyber - attacks, espionage campaigns, and the hyper - connected, unbound passing of information. Second, true power resides with those who control the pipelines that facilitate the global digital network — such as e - mails, landlines, online messaging software, social media, web pages, and international cloud facilities. Consequently, the traditional “space of places,” meaning physical presence, has become comparably less valuable. The universality of Castells’ theory is clearly reflected in the documentation of the United Nations. The 67th Commission on the Status of Women deliberated on the agendum: “Innovation and Technological Change and Education in the Digital Age for Achieving Gender Equality and the Empowerment of All Women and Girls” and released the conclusions of the committee on 18th of March, 2023. The conclusions were in line with Castells’ idea of informational consolidation, digital divide and the growth of gender - base d violence via technology, explicitly calling for “Prioritizing digital equity to close the gender digital divide” and “Adopting gender - responsive technology design, development and deployment”. This paper assesses one element under the agenda: “Technology, Innovation and Power” which are highly prevalent in 2026 and deliberates on solutions grounded in existing precedents and international law - weaponization of copyright laws. Analysis of different dimensions of the elements -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dimension 1 : Context From the foundational critiques of the internationally renowned digital activist and technologist Aaron Swartz, the consolidation of information in the name of “patents” and “copyright” oftentimes restricts the flow of knowledge to poorer or technologicall y less - advanced nations, causing lapses in their ability to promote technological advancements, eGovernance mechanisms, and innovation schemes inside their borders. In the United States, one of the largest repositories of patented knowledge globally, the D igital Millennium Copyright Act (1998) may have been weaponized to take down copyright infringement instances which per se are allowed by the United States legislation’s doctrine of Fair Use, as alleged by non - governmental institutions like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as legal clinics at Santa Clara University. Existing fram eworks like the World Trade Organization’s Trade - Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement try to address the regulation of copyright and intellectual property provisions, while creating roads for certain exceptions to be allowed. If we do a detailed case study on a specific instance under this dimension, we can assess the automatic digitized take - down mechanisms of social media platforms prevale in 2026. Most social media platforms, like YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, and ByteDance's TikTok, try to adhere to the Intellectual Property Laws of their host countries, or simply listen to requests of the copyright holders without considering factors lik e the Fair Use doctrine, humanitarian exceptions, and adherence to legislative norms. Si nce 2020, instead of working on complaints submitted by copyright holders, these platforms have moved to utilize Artificial Intelligence - based algorithms to automatically take down content. These systems disproportionately affect countries of the Global So uth and pose an existential threat to newer content creators and small - scale businesses. These practices are in dire conflict with recent legislation at the inter - State level. Firstly, to define an exception, we must follow TRIPS’ Three - Step Test model un der which an exception to IP laws may be implemented if the exception is narrow and specific, it does not conflict with the legitimate interest of the owner, and it does not impair the source of livelihood of the owner. While TRIPS obligations explicitly b ind WTO member states rather than private platforms, these automated corporate mechanisms effectively bypass the balanced copyright exceptions that domestic legislatures are treaty - bound to protect. Because these take - down mechanisms are not context - dependent, allow copyright holders to authorize permissionless, spontaneous demonetizations and take - downs, and do not consider Fair Use, they may potentially cause the host country’s obligations to TRIPS to be violated. Even if we consider the domestic legislation of the United States, where the majority of social media platforms are based out of, these mechanisms are in direct conflict with past judgments and interpretations by the United States Judiciary , such as Authors Guild v. Google (2015), which instated Fair Use not as a theoretical concept but as an obligative consideration. Dimension 2 : Solution and Capacity Building To solve the multi - State paradigm of this problem and to find a medium for Dispute Resolution that is legally binding or has de facto legal weight on all sides while respecting the sovereignty and obligations of all stakeholder’s involved, the most ideal mechanism for resolution or adaptation of existing regulations to a modern reality is the International Court of Justice’s ipso facto jurisdiction. To ensure the universality of its opinion as well as keeping the non - binding nature of its opinion intact, th e opinion of the Court should be as an Advisory Opinion. Based on past precedents like the Advisory Opinion on Climate Change (1987), the Court should utilize means mentioned under Article 38 of its statute to deliver its non - binding opinion on the conflic t mentioned before and suggest appropriate remedial measures. Henceforth, its suggestions, though non - binding, would carry immense legal and diplomatic weight and could be cited as a precedent in future policy amendments, curations and determination of jus cogens - norms which can bypass any treaty on the face of the world. Furthermore, regional groupings could be created , formed of government officials , private businesses, non - governmental organizations and prominent scholars. Existing precedents are limited but there is a great scope for expansion. The Development Ag eda Group (DAG) at WIPO is a bloc of several Global South voices like Egypt, India, Brazil, et cetera. Past achievements of this grouping are the WIPO Development Agenda - an instrument which bound the WIPO to treat technology transfer as a valid mandate of the committee. The Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries at IPO has similar achievements. The Andean Community (CAN) also has enacted instruments to standardize copyright laws and prevent weaponization. (Decision 351 on Common Provisions on Copy right). An organization working to enforce the opinion of the Court authorized by its Member - State is fully legal under Article 2 of the United Nations (Principles). Available pipelines involve the: maximization of public interest and medical derogations to the TR IPS, compulsory licensing for foreign educational texts and translation (Appendix Article II of Berne Convention), utilization of open - source digital infrastructure like Linux and open - access research repositories and collective promotion of common agendum in international forums like WIPO and World Health Organization’s Pandemic Accords which binds submission of biological data into an open - access database.