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General Category => Blog => Topic started by: kat on November 14, 2013, 03:43:49 AM

Title: Trans-Pacific Partnership on Intellectual Property Rights
Post by: kat on November 14, 2013, 03:43:49 AM
According to WikiLeaks there's apparently a new Trans-Pacific Partnership (http://www.ustr.gov/tpp) [Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership)] agreement in the works that will have an affect on Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights - https://wikileaks.org/tpp/static/pdf/Wikileaks-secret-TPP-treaty-IP-chapter.pdf (https://wikileaks.org/tpp/static/pdf/Wikileaks-secret-TPP-treaty-IP-chapter.pdf). From what can be ascertained it appears this 'treaty' would supersede previous agreements (which would need to be ratified). There are apparently a number of interesting 'clauses' in the document which include legally obliging Internet Service Providers to act as 'Copyright Police', using the three strikes rule to limit, ban and/or block a users (offenders) access to the Internet if found (outside of law) to be infringing Property Rights.

When looking at the many links listed below to previous discussions on Copyright et-al, imagine their individual issues being enrolled into one singular and unifying 'force'. That just about sums up what the TPP is proposing, with multinational copyright holders sat on top of the pyramid (using Government regulation as a mechanism of 'authority').

Previous topics/Further reading
Title: Re: Trans-Pacific Partnership on Intellectual Property Rights
Post by: kat on October 06, 2015, 03:23:29 PM
Various news (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/tpp-signed-the-biggest-global-threat-to-the-internet-agreed-as-campaigners-warn-that-secret-pact-a6680321.html) outlets (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34444799) are reporting (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3261557/Faint-corporate-praise-greets-TPP-trade-deal.html) that TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) (https://ustr.gov/tpp/) has been 'agreed' to, although it appears some details still need to be finalised. The basic premise of thr agreement is similar in intent to what spawned the EU, the reduction of trade and other tariffs. Although some 40 Nations agreed to the Treaty, they are not all equally benefiting, which may encourage their seeking to renegotiate treaties with other regions to compensate. The legislation has yet to be made available for public scrutiny (is unlikely to be made available for some time).
Title: Re: Trans-Pacific Partnership on Intellectual Property Rights
Post by: kat on October 13, 2015, 12:26:32 AM
Thanks to Wikileaks part of the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) concerning intellectual property has been made available (given it's nature, and the standing of Wikileaks with authorities, the leaked docs are not being linked to directly). The document covers a lot of ground but in a nutshell what the conspiracy theorists had been saying about 'treaty' for years appear to be true; the TPP does indeed set up the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization, a self-funding agency of the United Nations (http://www.wipo.int/about-wipo/en/index.html)) as an organisation that's to police intellectual property rights on the International stage (and 'globally' relative to agreements they have between themselves and other regional treaty signatories, i.e. Asia, Atlantic, Europe etc.[§ qq.a.8]).

The way it appears to work relies on the fact that members are bound by a dozen or so previous treaties [§ qq.a.8], as well as the TPP itself, in ways that require they not favor their own nationals (Citizens) over those of another nations when it comes to the protections of intellectual property and prosecution of infringements therein [§ qq.a.9]. It does this mechanically by requiring each signatory; 1) agree to relinquish jurisdiction over (certain aspects of) intellectual property to the WIPO, and 2) be used to enforce WIPO rulings locally (against their own citizens) and internationally (against the citizens of another nation).

How this might actually manifest is subject to interpretation but might mean, for example, New Zealand being obligated to hand Kim Dot Com over to United States authorities without much-ado-about-nothing simply because of the claim of infringement currently levied against him (and not specifically the legitimacy or veracity of such); as it currently stands, K.D.C. claims the United States does not have jurisdiction in New Zealand, meaning they are not incumbent on extraditing him. Under the TPP however, to which both nations are signatories, the situation changes greatly because the treaty obligates New Zealand cooperate and hand K.D.C. over US authorities regardless of the current standing of his case in New Zealand.

This type of international cooperation has it's pros and con with respect to enforcement expediency, but the TPP does appear, certainly at face value, to upset long standing notions concerning National Sovereignty, general hebeas corpus and other "innocent until proven guilty" common law principles, which is more than a little troubling.
Title: Re: Trans-Pacific Partnership on Intellectual Property Rights
Post by: kat on November 05, 2015, 06:58:41 PM
Full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been released (https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/trans-pacific-partnership/tpp-full-text), and there's a lot of it, some 30 or so chapters essentially broken down into region specific sections with about 10 chapters covering cross-national concerns.

Some chapters generally relevant to the Internet and content creation;
 - https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/TPP-Final-Text-Intellectual-Property.pdf
 - https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/TPP-Final-Text-Electronic-Commerce.pdf
 - https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/TPP-Final-Text-Telecommunications.pdf