President Donald Trump's order to review whether China's trade practices discriminate against American companies' IP (see 1708140060) is generally viewed optimistically by industry, and experts told us they hope this at least improves trade relations incrementally. “This is a measured step that raises fair questions [and] it provides ample opportunity to avoid unnecessary escalating trade tension by improving the treatment of American IP in China," said Sentinel Worldwide CEO Steve Tepp. "It's a smart move.”
US Trade Representative (USTR)
A U.S. Cabinet level position which serves as the President's primary representative, negotiator, and spokesperson regarding U.S. trade policy. The USTR heads the Office of the United States Trade Representative which develops and coordinates U.S. policy for international trade, commodities, and direct investments, as well as overseeing trade negotiations with other countries.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative highlighted concerns about other countries' adoption of data localization laws and other barriers to digital trade, in its annual National Trade Estimate report Friday. Other identified digital trade barriers included restrictions on “digital products, Internet-enabled services, and other restrictive technology requirements,” USTR said. The office included a digital trade barriers section on every country included in the NTE. BSA|The Software Alliance praised USTR for including digital trade barriers. “Eliminating barriers that prevent BSA members and other US companies from providing their products and services around the world is critical,” said BSA President Victoria Espinel in a statement.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a Wednesday letter to swiftly report U.S. Trade Representative nominee Robert Lighthizer out of committee (see 1703220015) for a Senate floor vote. “Mr. Lighthizer has led a distinguished career as a trade policy practitioner and has a reputation as a staunch advocate for American industry,” said Executive Vice President and Head-International Affairs Myron Brilliant. “He will represent the nation’s interests well as he works with international partners and addresses trade challenges at the negotiating table and before the World Trade Organization.” A committee spokesman said the committee hasn’t scheduled a vote on whether to clear Lighthizer, and the panel will announce it 48 hours in advance.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released results Wednesday of its 2016 Special 301 out-of-cycle review on IP infringement, which redesignated major Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba and its Taobao online shopping arm to its blacklist. The annual report included Alibaba/Taobao among 21 online markets, along with ExtraTorrent, The Pirate Bay, Putlocker and other websites that have repeatedly appeared in the USTR rankings. The document also included 19 physical markets engaged in selling counterfeit copyrighted materials, including six markets in China.
The FCC held some dozen events for news media that weren't on the record in the first half of this year, more than any other communications-related federal body. Such commission media events, often "on background" where officials couldn't be identified, numbered twice as many as were fully on the record. Partisan politics (see 1510280062 and 1512150011) and a divided FCC (see 1512150030) appear to be making commission officials more cautious in what they say when their names are attached, said experts who reviewed a Communications Daily database. They said such politics partly reflect a politically divided Washington. That's apparent to a lesser degree at NTIA and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The Obama administration released the full text of the telecom chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, spurring reactions Thursday from many stakeholders. Some such as AT&T have strongly backed the trade deal during negotiations. The 22 pages of chapter text were posted on the U.S. Trade Representative website Thursday, alongside a summary document and some other chapters. One such chapter deals with e-commerce. The administration was compelled to release the document 90 days ahead of President Barack Obama’s signature as part of the Trade Promotion Authority arrangement, before congressional consideration.
The U.S. and its Information Technology Agreement (ITA) partners struck a deal this weekend to open “the door for swift conclusion” of an ITA expansion deal in Geneva, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. A finalized expansion would be the first time in nearly 20 years that World Trade Organization parties locked down a “major” accord to cut tariffs, said the USTR office in a statement. The accord will eliminate tariffs on roughly 200 products, said the WTO in a predeal statement. Eighty countries are party to the ITA, including the EU bloc.
A bill introduced Wednesday by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., would help preserve open Internet policies by identifying and coordinating efforts to thwart legislation like the failed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), copyright experts told us. Lofgren’s Global Free Internet Act would create a Commerce Department task force to review and report on potentially problematic Internet issues, both domestic and international, the bill’s draft text said. The bill would require the U.S. Trade Representative to investigate, and if necessary, to take enforcement actions against international bodies whose Internet policies negatively affect trade or market access, said Jonathan Band of the law firm policybandwidth.
The U.S. is “reserving the right to vet other countries’ implementation” of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) “before its own obligations come into effect,” said the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF) Jeremy Malcolm, senior global policy analyst, and Maira Sutton, global policy analyst, in a blog post Thursday (http://bit.ly/VnM9Fs). EFF cited the recently launched TPP: No Certification website (http://bit.ly/1pPSV1E) as its source. The stance by the U.S. has “worrying implications for other countries planning to take advantage of whatever flexibilities remain in the TPP text after the negotiations are finished,” said EFF. “The leaked draft of the TPP requires signatory countries to provide ‘legal incentives for service providers to cooperate with copyright owners,'” it said, saying the term “legal incentives” is “vague.” “Certification means that this ambiguity or flexibility could disappear, leaving countries with only one, extreme interpretation of their obligations under the TPP -- whatever interpretation the US Trade Representative (USTR) unilaterally decides,” which might include strict copyright regulations, it said.
WikiLeaks released what it said was the previously undisclosed Intellectual Property chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact being negotiated by the U.S. and 11 other nations. It obtained the 95-page document after the Aug. 26-30 TPP summit in Brunei, said WikiLeaks in a Wednesday news release (http://bit.ly/HRoF50). The leak comes as chief TPP negotiators prepare to meet in Salt Lake City Nov. 19-24. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative refused to comment on the authenticity of the material “purportedly leaked from a negotiation,” said a USTR spokeswoman. The IP negotiations remain underway and a final text has not been agreed upon, she said. The Obama administration has targeted year’s end to conclude negotiations (CD Oct 31 p13). The leaked text unveils significant disagreement among the 12 nations, said a number of advocacy groups in news releases, including WikiLeaks. “This leak is the first of a complete chapter revealing all countries’ positions. There are more than 100 unresolved issues in the TPP Intellectual Property chapter,” said Public Citizen (http://bit.ly/1a5bHuT). “Even the wording of many footnotes is in dispute; one footnote negotiators agree on suggests they keep working out their differences over the wording of the other footnotes. The other 28 draft TPP chapters remain shrouded in secrecy.” The IP chapter shows the U.S. administration is pushing stringent IP language that promotes big business over consumer access to products and information, said WikiLeaks, saying only primary negotiators and big business previously had viewing privileges for the document. “Members of the US Congress are only able to view selected portions of treaty-related documents in highly restrictive conditions and under strict supervision,” said WikiLeaks. “It has been previously revealed that only three individuals in each TPP nation have access to the full text of the agreement, while 600 ’trade advisers’ -- lobbyists guarding the interests of large US corporations such as Chevron, Halliburton, Monsanto and Walmart -- are granted privileged access to crucial sections of the treaty text.” The TPP IP chapter, which includes 296 footnotes and 941 brackets -- indicating provisions still under debate -- proposes patent and IP rights language that would enable participant governments and private entities to bring legal action that could award dispute winners “huge” sums, said Knowledge Ecology International (http://bit.ly/1aENN5i).