Wikileaks releases final TPP IP Chapter
Wikileaks has released the final negotiated text for the TPP’s Intellectual Property Chapter. It is posted at https://wikileaks.org/tpp-ip3/ along with several links to analysis.
Significant provisions were included in earlier leaked versions of the text and have been the subject of extensive commentary. The leaked IP Chapter, which comes in advance of the government’s promises to release the entire agreement, includes an increase of the copyright term to life+70 years, provisions that will induce ISPs to block content, increased criminal penalties. After a decade of consultation and debate resulting in a new copyright bill in 2012 (which despite its faults was generally regarded as a compromise), it is ironic that the government has traded so much away with so much damage to user’s rights, freedom of expression and the open internet.
The IP Chapter also includes significant patent changes which have been roundly criticized by advocates for affordable medicines. As the federal election enters the final home stretch, the TPP is emerging as a major campaign issue. The NDP has come out strongly against the TPP and has made it clear they will not be bound by the negotiations concluded by the caretaker Harper government. The Liberals have thus far refused to take a position, which in my view means they are essentially standing with the Conservatives on this issue.
While the Canadian press has focused most attention on the auto and dairy industries, I think the copyright, patent and internet issues will get more attention in the closing days of the campaign.
Here are some recent links to commentary.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/10/final-leaked-tpp-text-all-we-feared
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/statement-msf-conclusion-tpp-negotiations-atlanta
Much more to follow: