New Zealand’s trade negotiators have tabled a position paper on the intellectual property chapter of the TPP that was leaked in December. The paper warns against “seeking to strengthen IP standards beyond those agreed to in TRIPS.” It argues that TRIPS-Plus IP protection may not necessarily lead to further innovation and economic growth especially in the digital realm. The paper notes that the countries involved in TPP are at different levels of development, so it is likely that they have different optimal levels of IP protection.
Instead, New Zealand recommends that the TPP try to improve the implementation of existing TRIPS obligations. This could include “improving operational efficiency” (such as by minimizing duplicative efforts among TPP partners); “Cooperation on enforcement” (including border measures); and “Cooperation on capacity/institution building” (assisting developing countries in the TPP region build up their IP infrastructure.
