There has been a considerable amount of information published about the IP and e-commerce chapters of the TPP. Not all of it accurate as I pointed out in a recent post, nor fully explaining the potential benefits of these chapters of the treaty to Canadians. Richard Owens, a Toronto lawyer, adjunct professor of law at the University of Toronto, and the former Executive Director of the University of Toronto Centre for Innovation Law and Policy, has published an important commentary on the TPP titled “Debunking Alarmism Over the TPP and IP: Why the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a Good Deal for Canadian Innovators”.
The article, published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, surveys the IP and e-commerce chapters of the TPP dispelling errors and aspersions about them and concluding that “It would be terrible if public debate were so undermined by misinformation as to seriously threaten such an important deal.” He also provides helpful analysis of key Articles in the treaty explaining the rationale for their inclusion and arguing that they will benefit Canadian innovators. He is also complimentary about Canada’s success in the negotiations stating “In any event, one is hard-pressed to point to Canadian concessions in Chapters 14 and 18. Even the one significant change, to the 70-year copyright term, also benefits Canadians.”
