The Chilling Effect: Investor-State Dispute Settlement, Graphic Health Warnings, the Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Victoria University Law and Justice Journal (2017) Matthew Rimmer Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) poses significant challenges in respect of tobacco control,…
The QUT Law Review has officially published the final version of Volume 17 (2) – Special Issue on the Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products. This issue looks at important legal and regulatory issues surrounding plain packaging reforms and the ways in which other jurisdictions have approached plain packaging reform and policy. In particular, it covers Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Ireland.
[Ante Wessels] The secretly negotiated EU-Japan trade agreement’s intellectual property (IP) chapter limits possibilities for copyright and patent reform. With the agreement, the EU exports part of its IP system. Local rules become binding international rules.
[Els Torreele] On behalf of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international medical humanitarian organisation that provides emergency medical assistance to populations in distress in more than 70 countries, I am writing to express our position on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between India and the European Union (EU). I understand that both parties have agreed to resume technical discussions concerning the FTA, including the chapter on intellectual property (IP) provisions. India has for many years played a pivotal role in providing a sustainable supply of quality assured generic medicines that are vitally important for public health systems around the world. It is critical that the EU-India FTA agreement remain free of TRIPS-plus measures and heavy-handed enforcement provisions that could jeopardize access to, and production of, affordable generic medicines.
[Timothy Vollmer] A recently-leaked draft of the Mercosur-EU free trade agreement shows minor improvements to the chapter on intellectual property. It appears that the unnecessary and unwarranted 20 year copyright term extension is now dropped from the agreement, and the parties have introduced some flexibility for users to get around technical protection measures in order to leverage their rights. But for the most part, the negotiations continue to favor increased tightening of copyright at the expense of protections for user rights and the commons.
... We write today to offer our views on Article 14 of the proposed Copyright reform dealing with limitations and exceptions. Our central concern is that Colombia take advantage of the flexibility in the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement to adopt a general public interest limitation and exception that can authorize future uses of copyright content that might not be envisioned today but that nevertheless would be fair under the standards of all international copyright laws.
I am here to speak about the importance of including provisions in NAFTA to protect the abilities of countries to have general and open public interest copyright exceptions. All three countries have such exceptions to varying degree. And all three are under threat from the agenda of some copyright holders in international forums.
... Copyright and other intellectual property rights will continue to be included in bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations, such as in the continuation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (now renamed “CPTPP” to stand for Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership), the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the talks on the Mercosur-EU trade agreement.
A common theme across all these trade agreements is an increase in copyright protection, enforcement measures, and infringement penalties aimed to benefit incumbent industries and rights holders. What is usually missing? The necessary checks and balances that protect and defend the rights of users and the public interest to access, share, and re-use content in the public good.
Authors: Belinda Townsend, Deborah Gleeson and Ruth Lopert. Abstract: This paper explores Japan’s role in reshaping the global pharmaceutical intellectual property regime by examining its position on the expansion of intellectual property rights (IPR) in negotiations for two regional trade agreements: the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Through systematic analysis of leaked negotiating texts documenting its positions on key issues, we demonstrate Japan is now playing a pivotal role in promoting the adoption of expanded IPRs.
The following letter to the trade and health ministers of the NAFTA negotiating parties was signed by nearly 100 organizations concerned with health. A printable PDF of the letter, including a full list of endorsements, is available on the MSF Access to Medicines site. Dear Ministers: As organizations concerned with health issues domestically and globally, we urge you to ensure that any renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) does not undermine access to affordable medicines.
The NAFTA negotiations resume in Montreal this week with Internet liability emerging as an increasingly contentious issue. I was pleased to be part of a group of 55 Internet law experts and organizations that recently urged negotiators to include Internet safe harbour rules that promote freedom of expression in the agreement. The provision, which is already found in U.S. law, would lower barriers to startup online companies, advance free speech, and protect sites publishing consumer reviews.
[Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University School of Law] Fifty-five Internet law experts and organizations have written a letter urging Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. trade negotiators to protect Internet businesses from being sued for content posted by others on their sites. The letter comes as representatives from the U.S., Mexico and Canada are working on changes to modernize the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA.