US IP Rights Holders Hail New FTAs With Colombia, Panama, Korea

Groups representing intellectual property rights holders in the United States are hailing the newly passed bilateral free trade agreements between the US and Colombia, Panama, and South Korea.

The agreements are said to contain the highest standards on IP rights to date.

The Motion Picture Association of America thanked Congress for its approval of the agreements yesterday, as it is a “major step forward in breaking down market access barriers and curtailing the content theft that hinders our industry’s growth abroad,” Michael O’Leary, senior executive vice president for global policy and external affairs, said in a release.

The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), representing most of the top rights holder trade associations, issued a statement applauding the approval of the “historic” agreement, also calling them “major steps forward” for US jobs and exports. IIPA said industry sectors dependent on copyright protection would “benefit considerably” from the trade deals.

“The FTAs contain essential protections for copyright in the digital age,” IIPA said. “They set high standards for our trading partners to keep their copyright laws up-to-date with rapid technological and market changes, and to enforce those laws vigorously in order to preserve and strengthen incentives for innovation, creativity and cultural growth.”

These agreements are not only important in themselves, they said, “but also for the path forward that they mark for evolving global norms of copyright law and enforcement.”

The US Chamber of Commerce Global IP Center also applauded the passage, in a blog post here. It emphasised the importance of all trade agreements – such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement under negotiation – having the highest level IP standards as found in the US-Korea FTA.

The Coalition of Service Industries (CSI) also “enthusiastically welcomed” the “historic” passage. The FTAs eliminate barriers to trade and investment in many services in which US companies are world leaders, CSI said, including financial services, telecommunications, information technology, express delivery, retailing, audiovisual services, and professional services.

The groups encouraged the other nations to complete ratification and implementation as quickly as possible.

Congress also passed the Trade Adjustment Assistance bill intended to help offset any domestic job loss related to the agreements.

The US Trade Representative’s office information on the agreements is available here.