The Our Fair Deal Coalition, an international group of civil society groups and commercial enterprises from across the countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement negotiations, has today written to responsible ministers in each of the TPP countries, calling on them to reject copyright proposals that would limit the open Internet, access to knowledge, and curtail economic opportunity.
The Australian members of the Our Fair Deal Coaltion are EFA, the Australian Digital Alliance (ADA) and the Australian Library & Information Association (ALIA).
This letter has been prompted by the release on Wikileaks of the current negotiating draft for the Intellectual Property chapter, which confirms our fears that the TPP is being used to launder policies relating to copyright infringement that are seriously anti-consumer and which have previously been rejected by the United States congress.
The negotiating draft also shows that Australia is largely supporting the US position in this context and is opposing good recommendations from countries such as Canada, that would protect the interests of consumers and intermediaries such as school, libraries and ISPs.
EFA and its Our Fair Deal Coalition partners continue to ask for more transparency and open debate about this crucial agreement, and note that CHOICE’s petition to release the text of the TPP has now reached over 10,000 signatures
See ADA’s analysis of the issues of concern.
Read the open letter.