Tuesday 9 October 2018

IP, Digital Trade and the New "NAFTA"


The United States Trade Representative has released a summary of some of the highlights concerning IP and the new “NAFTA” between the United States, Canada and Mexico.  The USMC agreement (United States Marine Corps or What We Say -- I'm making a joke.) summary states, in part:

UNITED STATES–MEXICO–CANADA TRADE FACT SHEET Modernizing NAFTA into a 21st Century Trade Agreement

The United States, Mexico, and Canada have reached an agreement to modernize the 24-year-old NAFTA into a 21st century, high-standard agreement. The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will support mutually beneficial trade leading to freer markets, fairer trade, and robust economic growth in North America.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The United States, Mexico, and Canada have reached an agreement on a modernized, high-standard Intellectual Property (IP) chapter that provides strong and effective protection and enforcement of IP rights critical to driving innovation, creating economic growth, and supporting American jobs.

Key Highlights: Protections for United States Innovators and Creators

The new IP Chapter will:

  • Include 10 years of data protection for biologic drugs and a robust scope of products eligible for protection.
  • Require full national treatment for copyright and related rights so United States creators are not deprived of the same protections that domestic creators receive in a foreign market.
  • Continue to provide strong patent protection for innovators by enshrining patentability standards and patent office best practices to ensure that United States innovators, including small- and medium-sized businesses, are able to protect their inventions with patents.
  • Include strong protection for pharmaceutical and agricultural innovators.
  • Require a minimum copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years, and for those works with a copyright term that is not based on the life of a person, a minimum of 75 years after first authorized publication.
  • Require strong standards against the circumvention of technological protection measures that often protect works such as digital music, movies, and books.
  • Establish appropriate copyright safe harbors to provide protection for IP and predictability for legitimate enterprises that do not directly benefit from the infringement, consistent with United States law.
  • Provide important procedural safeguards for recognition of new geographical indications (GIs), including strong standards for protection against issuances of GIs that would prevent United States producers from using common names, as well as establish a mechanism for consultation between the Parties on future GIs pursuant to international agreements.
  • Enhance provisions for protecting trademarks, including well-known marks, to help companies that have invested effort and resources into establishing goodwill for their brands.

Key Achievement: Most Comprehensive Enforcement Provisions of Any Trade Agreement

For the first time, a trade agreement will require all of the following:

  • Ex officio authority for law enforcement officials to stop suspected counterfeit or pirated goods at every phase of entering, exiting, and transiting through the territory of any Party.
  • Express recognition that IP enforcement procedures must be available for the digital environment for trademark and copyright or related rights infringement.
  • Meaningful criminal procedures and penalties for unauthorized camcording of movies, which is a significant source of pirated movies online.
  • Civil and criminal penalties for satellite and cable signal theft.
  • Broad protection against trade secret theft, including against state-owned enterprises.

Key Achievement: Strongest Standards of Protection for Trade Secrets of Any Prior FTA

In particular, the Chapter has the most robust protection for trade secrets of any prior United States trade agreement.  It includes all of the following protections against misappropriation of trade secrets, including by state-owned enterprises: civil procedures and remedies, criminal procedures and penalties, prohibitions against impeding licensing of trade secrets, judicial procedures to prevent disclosure of trade secrets during the litigation process, and penalties for government officials for the unauthorized disclosure of trade secrets. 

DIGITAL TRADE

The new Digital Trade chapter contains the strongest disciplines on digital trade of any international agreement, providing a firm foundation for the expansion of trade and investment in the innovative products and services where the United States has a competitive advantage. 

Key Highlights of the Digital Trade Chapter

The new Digital Trade chapter will:

  • Prohibit customs duties and other discriminatory measures from being applied to digital products distributed electronically (e-books, videos, music, software, games, etc.).
  • Ensure that data can be transferred cross-border, and that limits on where data can be stored and processed are minimized, thereby enhancing and protecting the global digital ecosystem.
  • Ensure that suppliers are not restricted in their use of electronic authentication or electronic signatures, thereby facilitating digital transactions.
  • Guarantee that enforceable consumer protections, including for privacy and unsolicited communications, apply to the digital marketplace.
  • Limit governments’ ability to require disclosure of proprietary computer source code and algorithms, to better protect the competitiveness of digital suppliers.
  • Promote collaboration in tackling cybersecurity challenges while seeking to promote industry best practices to keep networks and services secure.
  • Promote open access to government-generated public data, to enhance innovative use in commercial applications and services.
  • Limit the civil liability of Internet platforms for third-party content that such platforms host or process, outside of the realm of intellectual property enforcement, thereby enhancing the economic viability of these engines of growth that depend on user interaction and user content.


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