The US Supports Limitations and Exceptions on Intellectual Property
New developments in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) have arose during negotiations on Monday. On July 3rd the US Trade Representative brought up that they would like to include limitations and exceptions to copyright to intellectual property online. These new provisions would make copying without the permission of the creator illegal. In terms of determining what good limitations and exceptions are, the international three-part test is already functioning in international law.
Copyright maximalism, an idea that rejects limitations and exceptions, had been perpetuated by Americans for a while and the USTR seems to be recognizing that the idea is impractical. Fighting for copyright maximalism caused the US to waste six years negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Argreement (ACTA) with the European Parliament, who ultimately rejected the policy.
This is the first time that the USTR has brought up adding limitations and exceptions to before, which could be a positive step for the organization. The decision to address limitations and exceptions counters the USTRs traditional views in the past. These traditional views meant that they would avoid discussions on limitations and exceptions under the assumption that limitations and exceptions were not beneficial.
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