Michael Geist has rung in the new year with the first in a series of posts that set out, in eye-watering detail, the bowel-loosening terror of the effects that the secretly negotiated Trans Pacific Partnership would have on Canada if the country ratifies it.

The first installment compares early, leaked drafts of the TPP with the final language to show how US negotiators ripped out all balance and safeguards in the "intellectual property" chapter. The earlier text, supported by New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, and Mexico, would have promoted the public domain, required "quality examination procedures during the granting of intellectual property rights," and supported each member's right to support public health.

But once the US negotiators were done with the chapter, all of that was gone, replaced with this tepid language:

The protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights should contribute to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology, to the mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge and in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a balance of rights and obligations.

Geist has future installments planned on "copyright, privacy, Internet governance, and many other issues," one a day, until Feb 4.



The Trouble with the TPP, Day 1: U.S. Blocks Balancing Objectives [Michael Geist]