With the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiation concluded,
attention is now turning to the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement.
The TPP currently includes the US, Australia, Brunei, Chile, New
Zealand, Singapore, Peru, Malaysia and Vietnam. Canada has not joined
the negotiation, but there have been periodic rumours
that wants in (it was apparently initially asked but declined due to
the impact due to the agricultural impact).
Much like ACTA, there have been periodic TPP leaks, particularly on
intellectual property issues. Last month, the New
Zealand and Chilean
proposals leaked online. Yesterday, the big one leaked - the U.S.'s
38 page intellectual property chapter. The U.S. plan is everything it wanted in ACTA but didn't get. For
example, the digital lock rules are the U.S. DMCA, complete with exact
same exceptions (no more, no less). The term of copyright matches
the
U.S. term of life of the author plus 70 years, beyond the Berne
requirement and Canadian law. The ISP provisions including a copy of
the U.S. notice-and-takedown system as well as provisions that go
beyond U.S. law. In other words, the U.S. envisions using the TPP to
export its copyright law to as many countries as possible while
creating backdoor changes to its own domestic laws. Moreover, the
chapter extends well beyond copyright, with patent provisions that
would restrict countries' ability to restrict patentable subject matter.
KEI provides a good initial
overview
of some of the U.S. demands. While Canadians are not directly affected
at the moment, it is certainly possible that pressure to join the TPP
will increase in the months ahead with a deal that Canada did not have
a hand in negotiating.
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