New TPP Still Most Advanced IP Trade Agreement Ever, Think Tank Says

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is on track to offer “the most advanced and detailed standards on intellectual property in a trade agreement to date” despite revisions scaling back the IP chapter after the United States dropped out, says the Washington, DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

CSIS published a set of “Critical Questions” about the agreement on 8 March, available here.

It notes that some 22 provisions from the original agreement “were suspended or otherwise changed, setting aside issues that were priorities for the United States in the original negotiations but did not enjoy similar support among the other TPP countries.”

CSIS says that under the revised IP chapter, “the length of patent protection for innovative medicines has been shortened, and technology and information protections have been narrowed. Copyright periods for written materials have also been shortened.” The revisions also call into question coverage of the investor-state dispute settlement provisions, it said.

The group views all of these as detrimental to US companies or different from US law:

“The suspended provisions lessen slightly the scope and reach of CPTPP as compared to TPP. In the IP chapter particularly, the stringent requirements that the United States pursued in technological protection measures (TPMs), rights management information, encrypted satellite and cable signals, and safe harbors for internet service providers (ISPs) have all been removed.”

It added: “The suspension of longer patent periods for innovative medicines is a blow to U.S. pharmaceutical companies, and shorter periods for copyright protection now deviate from the American standard. In the investment chapter, the decision to suspend provisions related to investment agreements and investment authorizations means such investments will not necessarily be covered under investor-state dispute settlement and are therefore marginally riskier for foreign investors.”

And yet, CSIS said, “Even with these provisions suspended, however, the IP chapter offers the most advanced and detailed standards on intellectual property in a trade agreement to date. It gives substantial protections to companies operating abroad from having their innovations stolen.”

The CPTPP agreement is being negotiated by 11 Asia-Pacific economies: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The United States withdrew last year.

In general, most of the original TPP text remains intact, and two-thirds of the CPTPP’s 30 chapters are identical to TPP, CSIS said.

Two positive points the group sees are that: “The e-commerce chapter has broad protections for data created through digital trade and protects the free flow of information across borders, while the government procurement chapter opens government contracts to foreign bidders.”

 

Image Credits: CSIS