Sen. Wyden demands vote on American copyright, patent treaties

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is a long-time opponent of the secretly negotiated Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Today he introduced an amendment to a Senate "jobs bill" that would force ACTA to come before Congress for approval. A second amendment would make the US Trade Representative, which negotiates US trade deals, drop the veil of secrecy around its copyright and patent negotiations.

USTR currently insists the president can ratify ACTA without the usual Senate sign-off on treaties. The current legal thinking seems to be that Congress delegated this authority to the executive branch by passing 2008's PRO-IP Act, which contained a general call to cut down on counterfeiting, etc.

That legal approach is contested; Wyden's amendment simply overrules it. "Notwithstanding section 303 of the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 8113) or any other provision of law," it says, "the President may not accept, or provide for the entry into force with respect to the United States of, any legally binding trade agreement that imposes obligations on the United States with respect to the enforcement of intellectual property rights, including the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, without the formal and express approval of Congress."

His second amendment tries to force a change in how the whole process around such treaties is handled. Right now, the US attempts to keep its negotiating positions a secret. What vital national security interests could be at stake if the public knew USTR was promoting "graduated response" laws or proposing changes in ISP liability? Wyden doesn't believe there are any.

Even with ACTA, where the text was officially kept secret until it was too late to make major changes, unofficial leaks stirred public debate and ultimately removed many of the most odious provisions from the final text. The "next ACTA" is the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a regional trade deal involving countries from around the Pacific Rim. Wyden wants to ensure the public doesn't have to rely on leaks to find out what's being proposed in its name.

He proposes a rule that would force USTR to release any negotiating proposals already shared with other nations in the TPP talks if they apply to "intellectual property, the Internet, or entities that use the Internet, including electronic commerce." In the future, USTR would have to post such documents from all trade negotiations within 24 hours of being shared with other countries.

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Sen. Wyden demands vote on American copyright, patent treaties