Legal Issues: The Trans-Pacific Partnership and IP

Abstract

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the latest in a long line of international agreements seeking to resolve and reduce intellectual property and other legal, political and trade issues between nations. These agreements attempt to reduce or eliminate the barriers that are often created by the laws of the individual countries when those laws make trade incompatible or more complicated. Reducing those barriers can result in increased trade between nations, provide for greater markets for goods produced by the member nations, along with greater protection against misuse of goods created by the member nations. In the intellectual property sphere, these kinds of agreements can be critical to the U.S. information and content provider industry. Often a world leaders in the production of music, television, movie, publishing and internet content, the protection of that content while developing new markets for content is critical for the industry’s long term survival. Still, the agreements can be controversial. In reducing barriers to the trade in goods and services, the agreements can often make it easier for production of goods to be transferred to other countries, particularly those with lower labor costs.