A day after the stunning release of a recent draft of the intellectual property chapter of the highly secret Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, United States Trade Representative Michael Froman promoted the potential benefits of the trade deal for companies doing business in Japan – including for IP rights protection.
“We are working in a bilateral way to urge others to reduce and eliminate their tariffs on information technology and environmental goods. And we are working together in the WTO to press other countries to eliminate export restraints and to strengthen their protection of intellectual property rights,” Froman said in remarks as delivered. “But the greatest potential avenue for our work together is through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP.”
Later, Froman said, “In the United States, alongside our domestic efforts, we have also pursued a new chapter in our trade agenda – seeking opportunities and agreements that better reflect both America’s interests and our values on core issues such as labor, the environment, intellectual property rights and digital freedom.”
See related Intellectual Property Watch reporting here (IPW, WTO/TRIPS, 13 November 2013).
FYI from Variety “U.S. Trade Representative Defends Pending Trade Pact After WikiLeaks Disclosure”
http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/u-s-trade-representative-says-pending-pact-has-zero-to-do-with-sopa-1200838860/
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