New Intellectual Property Treaties Seen as Path to TPP

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By Peter Mazereeuw, Embassy Feb 24, 2014

More foreign intellectual property will be enforced in Canada, says one analyst.

The federal government’s budget promise to sign on to five intellectual property treaties will likely please potential free trade partners in Europe and around the Pacific, say legal analysts briefed on the subject.

The treaties, most of which the United States and several members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership have already signed on to, primarily cover administrative aspects of the international registration of patents, trademarks and industrial designs, analysts say. The treaties would make it easier for Canadian companies to register their intellectual property abroad, and vice versa.

However, since Canada is a net importer of intellectual property, the primary effect will be to make it easier for foreign multinationals to extend their protection into Canada, said Robert MacDonald, a trademark lawyer at Gowlings’ Ottawa Office, in a phone interview.

Intellectual property reform—including administrative harmonization and more controversial proposals, such as tougher measures to prevent Internet piracy—is expected to be one of the central points of the TPP negotiations. 

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