3 Count: Trans-Pacific Problems

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1: Japan May Be Latecomer but TPP Trade Party Has Just Begun

First off today, Kazuaki Nagata at The Japan Times reports that Japan will be joining 11 other nations in Malaysia to negotiate and likely join the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP negotiations have been going on for some time, 17 rounds so far, making Japan a late entrant into the negotiations but a potentially huge one.

The TPP is primarily a free trade agreement but also has copyright components that are being negotiated in secret. However, leaks indicate it may place severe restrictions on content reuse in signatory countries.

Japan, as a new entrant, must agree in principle with the things that have already been settled, however, there are still many key issues, including copyright-related ones, that are far from decided. However, raising its concerns might be difficult as the current round of talks, round 18, ends on Thursday, which gives Japan just three days before the next break.

2: Copyright Law Holdup Linked to US Pressure

Next up today, Andrea Vance at Stuff reports that New Zealand’s anticipated review of copyright legislation has been put on hold. The review, which was promised five years after the latest update to the country’s copyright laws, which were passed in 2008, will be delayed pending conclusions of the TPP negotiations.

The move has sparked controversy in the country as several trade groups are seeking an explanation but parts of the explanation were redacted to appease stakeholders, including fellow nations involved in TPP negotiations.

This has led to accusations that the government is giving in to U.S. pressure to postpone the review but the New Zealand government notes that such a review would be impractical and pointless until the TPP negotiations are complete as the treaty could have a significant impact on the country’s copyright laws.

3: Yandex Gets Rid of Some of Perfect 10’s Infringement Claims

Finally today, Victoria Slind-FLor at Bloomberg reports that Yandex, a dutch company that operates a search engine popular in Russia, has successfully gotten several claims by Perfect 10 dismissed.

Perfect 10, a pornography company best known for its magazine by the same name (and for its repeated failed litigation against Google), sued a U.S.-based subsidiary of the company alleging that the search engine made it possible for users to do find and download illegal copies of Perfect 10 content. However, the judge threw out several of Perfect 10’s claims, including that Yandex was engaging in direct infringement, largely on jurisdictional grounds since the servers are located in Russia.

However, the judge has allowed Perfect 10 to move forward with claims that it enabled others to infringe Perfect 10 content and that it is vicariously liable.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.

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