Photo from ustr.gov
Groups that work on intellectual property were behind roughly half of the tables at today’s tabling session at the TPP negotiations in Dallas. An incomplete list included PhRMA, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the American Association of Publishers, the Business Software Alliance, the Property Rights Alliance, the Institute for Policy Innovation and the Chamber of Commerce… but also Public Citizen’s Access to Medicine Campaign, InternetNZ, the Library Copyright Alliance, Public Knowledge, and PIJIP.
Delegates came around and talked to everyone. Many seemed rather interested in civil society views on intellectual property. The initial reactions from some stakeholders were positive, though others noted that many of the negotiators they spoke with covered areas unrelated to their materials.
The Property Rights Alliance distributed a report on the importance of property rights, and their relation to other economic indicators. One of the country delegates showed me the report, which at first glance seemed to contradict my earlier presentation on IP and innovation. But their report actually shows no significant relationship between IP and FDI (page 39) and no significant relations between IP and GDP growth in developing countries
