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The next negotiating round of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement will be held in Chicago from September 6-15.  Negotiators hope to make progress on outstanding issues including intellectual property protection, which has been an area in which negotiators have had trouble reaching agreement.  It is rumored that the U.S. will table text on data exclusivity, as well as pharmaceutical provisions that could affect the way governments reimburse for public sector purchases of patented medicines.

Civil society groups will hold a series of events throughout the week, including

• Conference Call Media Briefing: Fair Trade Advocates from U.S., New Zealand & Australia to Provide Update on Trans-Pacific Partnership. Tuesday, September 6, 2011 7:00 pm Central / 8:00 pm Eastern (See media advisory)
• Health GAP (Global Access Project) Direct Action Highlighting Impacts of Negotiations on Access to Life-Saving Medications for People Living with AIDS, Wed., September 7
• Consultations with negotiators, Saturday Sep 10.  (People presenting on intellectual property include Sean Flynn, Peter Maybarduk, Sanya Reid Smith, Matt Kavanagh, and others)

Last week, Krista Cox from Knowledge Ecology International published comments submitted to USTR that highlight a number of areas where the US-proposed intellectual property chapter that was leaked in February conflicts with US legal norms and practices.  The analysis is here – http://keionline.org/node/1216. Excerpt:

As KEI has discussed previously, USTR’s proposal for the IP chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) raises numerous concerns for human rights, access to medicines, and access to information, among other issues. Not only would USTR’s proposal greatly impact those living in the countries of the TPPA negotiating partners–currently Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam–but many provisions of its February 10, 2011 text would be inconsistent with U.S. law, requiring changes to our domestic laws.

Last month, Kimberlee Weatherall from the University of Queensland published “An Australian Analysis of the February 2011 Leaked US TPPA IP Chapter Text – copyright and enforcement,” which examines the consistency of the TPP with Australian law.  It is available here: http://works.bepress.com/kimweatherall/22/ Abstract:

This document is a summary table of the copyright and enforcement provisions of the (leaked) US February 2011 proposals for the IP chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), and their impact on Australian law. The table includes comments, not only for the benefit of an Australian audience, but also for the benefit of countries not presently party to a US FTA. The latter countries might learn something from Australia’s experience to date.