ICYMI: Obama on the Need to Enhance IP in TPP, China
By Ashley Mergen
Amidst trading barbs with Congressional leaders on the government shutdown (did you know that the Copyright Office is closed?!), President Barack Obama took a welcome detour to talk about the importance of trade in a press conference yesterday.
Though his absence (also as a result of the government shutdown) at this weeks’ Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations in Bali leaves somewhat of a cloud over the event, his message on the importance of including meaningful IP standards in the agreement rang loud and clear:
On trade in particular, though, here’s an area where part of what we’re trying to do is raise standards for, for example, intellectual property protection, which sometimes is a big problem in China. And if we can get a — a trade deal with all the other countries in Asia that says you got to protect people’s intellectual property, that’ll help us in our negotiations with China.
The TPP will absolutely serve as a blueprint for trade in the region, making it incredibly important to the international business community that IP standards, particularly consistent with the already enacted Korea-U.S. FTA, are maintained and not watered-down.
