danielEFF

The TPP is an international deal between Pacific nations that is being negotiated in secret (big corporations get access but the public is locked out). Although the TPP is considered a trade deal, the Intellectual Property provisions actually deal with domestic law (copyright, trademark, and patents).

Proposals found in the leaked draft would require countries to adopt many of the strictest provisions of US law. These include: 1) criminal penalties for circumventing 'technological protection measures' i.e. DRM (even for otherwise legal uses of copyrighted material); 2) long copyright terms; 3) steep statutory damages; and 4) super strict enforcement. This is all bad policy and none of it belongs in a trade deal.

More details here: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/tpp-leak-confirms-worst-us-negotiators-still-trying-trade-away-internet-freedoms

At EFF we're focused on the IP chapter because it deals more with our core issues. Also, that's the chapter that just leaked. We don't have recent drafts of the other parts of the agreement.

Other worrying parts of the agreement include investor-state dispute resolution which basically elevates corporations to the status of nation states and allows them to bypass national courts. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130411/09574122678/investor-state-dispute-resolution-sleeping-monster-inside-free-trade-agreements-begins-to-stir.shtml

TPP isn't necessarily inconsistent with WTO guidelines. Trade agreements generally don't preclude other trade agreements as long as the new ones don't impose conditions inconsistent with the old ones.

I think it's totally fair to say, leaving aside the content of the agreement, that law simply should not made in secret. It's a way special interests lock in unpopular laws that could not be implemented through an open process. This is called 'policy laundering.' www.publicknowledge.org/blog/tpp-and-policy-laundering

Defenders of the TPP respond that trade deals have always been negotiated this way. But that's no excuse. And, as far as its IP provisions go, TPP is not even a trade deal - it deals with domestic law (copyright, trademark, and patents).

The US will likely argue that TPP is consistent with existing US law (whether that is true is another matter).

The US is pushing for a provision that would prohibit denying “a patent solely on the basis that the product did not result in enhanced efficacy of the known product.” (Just about every other nation opposes this language.) Pharma wants this language to help them 'evergreen' monopolies on drugs ... http://aids2012.msf.org/2012/the-trans-pacific-partnership-agreement-evergreening/