TPP: Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
July 26, 2016 |
| Report Number |
IF10442 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
Shayerah Ilias Akhtar; Ian F. Fergusson |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a proposed free
trade agreement (FTA) among the United States and 11
Asia-Pacific countries that would reduce and eliminate
tariff and non-tariff barriers on goods, services, and
agriculture, and establish trade rules and disciplines,
including on IPR protection, which expand on World Trade
Organization commitments (“WTO-plus”).
IP—creations of the mind embodied in physical and digital
objects—are a key source of U.S. comparative advantage.
IPR are time-limited rights that governments grant to
inventors and artists to exclude others from using their
inventions and creations without permission. Advancing
IPR protection globally has been a U.S. trade negotiating
objective since 1988 (P.L. 100-418), first reflected in the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and
WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS). The 2015 Trade Promotion
Authority (TPA, P.L. 114-26 ) includes prior U.S. trade
negotiating objectives for U.S. trade agreements to “reflect
a standard of protection similar to that found in U.S. law”
(“TRIPS-plus”), and new objectives to combat cyber theft
and protect trade secrets. TPP and IPR debate focuses on
how to protect and enforce IPR to incentivize innovation,
while also securing public benefits from these innovations.
The TPP area is a mix of developed countries, historically
IP generators, and developing countries, historically IP
importers, but now are growing sources of innovation. The
region presents a range of IPR challenges (Fig. 1), such as
high counterfeiting and piracy rates, including in the digital
environment, and weak enforcement of IPR laws. TPP
potentially could address IPR concerns in the broader
region, including with respect to China and India.
