Cooperation in the Pacific Rim by Jakob Polacsek, World Economic Forum (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/48179628441

Cooperation in the Pacific Rim by Jakob Polacsek, World Economic Forum (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/48179628441

Digital Trade

Wikileaks ACTA Cables Reveal Concern With U.S. Secrecy Demands

The Guardian has posted two Wikileaks cables that focus on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.  The first is from Italy in November 2008.   It provides a useful reminder that the U.S. at one time hoped to conclude the ACTA negotiations by the end of 2008 (and the George Bush term).  The cable quotes the Italian head of the IP office within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying that timeline was unrealistic:

European countries are likely to ask for a slowdown in negotiations because of opposition to the EU commission’s involvement in negotiating portions of the treaty, disagreements over the confidentiality level of the negotiations, and the absence of geographical indications from the agreement.

The official also noted opposition among member states with the European Commission negotiating criminal matters and ongoing frustration with the level of secrecy associated with ACTA that made it impossible to properly consult stakeholders:

The level of confidentiality in these ACTA negotiations has been set at a higher level than is customary for non-security agreements. According to Mazza, it is impossible for member states to conduct necessary consultations with IPR stakeholders and legislatures under this level of confidentiality. He said that before the next round of ACTA discussions, this point will have to be renegotiated.

The official characterized ACTA as “TRIPS Plus” and noted (correctly) that geographic indications was likely to become a major sticking point.

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December 22, 2010 5 comments News

USTR Launches Request for Comments on ACTA

The USTR has launched a public request for comments on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.  There has been no indication from Canadian officials about possible meetings or consultations.

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December 17, 2010 7 comments News

IP on Pharma Could be Main CETA Stumbling Block

John Ivison of the National Post reports that Canada and the EU are moving closer to a trade agreement, but that EU demands to extend IP protection for pharmaceuticals – a move that would cost Canadians millions – is viewed as a major stumbling block.

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December 16, 2010 Comments are Disabled News

Australia Government Report Warns Against Including IP In Trade Agreements

The Australian Government’s Productivity Commission, which is the government’s independent research and advisory body on a range of economic, social and environmental issues affecting the welfare of Australians, has released a new report on the impact of bilateral and regional trade agreements.  The report, which contains some key lessons for Canada given our current trade negotiations activities with Europe, India, and South American countries, warns against the inclusion of intellectual property within these trade agreements.  The report concludes:

The Commission considers that Australia should not generally seek to include IP provisions in further BRTAs, and that any IP provisions that are proposed for a particular agreement should only be included after an economic assessment of the impacts, including on consumers, in Australia and partner countries. To safeguard against the prospect that acceptance of ‘negative sum game’ proposals, the assessment would need to find that implementing the provisions would likely generate overall net benefits for members of the agreement.

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December 14, 2010 7 comments News

Final Version of ACTA Posted

The final ACTA text [PDF] – now incorporating changes for a technical, legal drafting meeting last week in Australia – has been posted.

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December 6, 2010 1 comment News