Wednesday, October 14, 2009

IP Watchdog FOIAs USTR (Again)

A day after watchdog group Knowledge Ecology International slammed the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for allegedly handpicking a group of mostly industry executives to review and provide feedback on a controversial section of a proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the watchdog has filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking for "all records at USTR on the topic of the policy and practice of USTR regard the transparency of trade negotiations, including but not limited to [ACTA]."

KEI Director Jamie Love's appeal for information, which spans Jan. 1, 2009 to today, will be used "to evaluate the degree to which the USTR is providing the public timely and relevant information about important norm setting activities in the area of intellectual property right rules and practices." Among the documents expected to be relevant are the communications within USTR and between USTR and other federal agencies, the White House and the Congress, and between USTR and the private sector, on the policies regarding transparency of trade negotiations, he said.

In a same day e-mail to USTR IP negotiator Stan McCoy, Love asks whether the current ACTA text, which will be the focus of a November meeting in Seoul, South Korea, makes it clear that there is no obligation to stop goods at borders in cases where there is legitimate parallel trade of products. A global IP treaty known as TRIPS has a carve-out for such cases. "If we could review the text, as apparently every corporate lobbyist in Washington, D.C. can do, we might know the answer to this question," Love added. See original Tech Daily Dose post on this topic here.

"USTR strives to be as open and transparent as possible to the American public while also maintaining the ability of ACTA negotiating partners to engage in the frank exchange of views necessary to reach agreement on complex issues," a recent USTR memo said. The agency also released a one-page draft of the agenda of its upcoming Seoul negotiations as part of its mission to keep the public informed.