Favorite Introduction In 1998, Bill Clinton signed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a sweeping overhaul of U.S. copyright law notionally designed to update the system for the digital era. Though the DMCA contains many controversial sections, one of the most pernicious and problematic elements of the law is Section 1201, the “anti-circumvention” rule which…
All posts tagged Trade Agreements and Digital Rights
On the Road to Victory for Human Rights in Mexico!
Favorite Mexico’s National Commission for Human Rights has taken a crucial step towards averting a human rights catastrophe, asking Mexico’s Supreme Court to assess the constitutionality of the Mexican copyright law: The Commission stated that the law contains “possible violations of the rights to freedom of expression, property, freedom of commerce or work and cultural…
A Legal Deep Dive on Mexico’s Disastrous New Copyright Law
Favorite Mexico has just adopted a terrible new copyright law, thanks to pressure from the United States (and specifically from the copyright maximalists that hold outsized influence on US foreign policy). This law closely resembles the Digital Millennium Copyright Act enacted in the US 1998, with a few differences that make it much, much worse.…
Mexico's New Copyright Law Undermines Mexico's National Sovereignty, Continuing Generations of Unfair "Fair Trade Deals" Between the USA and Latin America
Favorite Earlier this month, Mexico’s Congress hastily imported most of the US copyright system into Mexican law, in a dangerous and ill-considered act. But neither this action nor its consequences occurred in a vacuum: rather, it was a consequence of Donald Trump’s US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the successor to NAFTA. Trade agreements are billed as creating…
Disability, Education, Repair and Health: How Mexico's Copyright Law Hurts Self-Determination in the Internet Age
Favorite Mexico’s new copyright law was rushed through Congress without adequate debate or consultation, and that’s a problem, because the law — a wholesale copy of the US copyright system — creates unique risks to the human rights of the Mexican people, and the commercial fortunes of Mexican businesses and workers. The Mexican law contains…
Mexico's New Copyright Law: Cybersecurity and Human Rights
Favorite This month, Mexico rushed through a new, expansive copyright law without adequate debate or consultation, and as a result, it adopted a national rule that is absolutely unfit for purpose, with grave implications for human rights and cybersecurity. The new law was passed as part of the country’s obligations under Donald Trump’s United States-Mexico-Canada…
How Mexico's New Copyright Law Crushes Free Expression
Favorite When Mexico’s Congress rushed through a new copyright law as part of its adoption of Donald Trump’s United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), it largely copy-pasted the US copyright statute, with some modifications that made the law even worse for human rights. The result is a legal regime that has all the deficits of the US…
Mexico's new copyright law puts human rights in jeopardy
Favorite Today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation joins a coalition of international organizations in publishing an open letter of opposition to Mexico’s new copyright law; the letter lays out the threats that Mexico’s new law poses to fundamental human rights and calls upon Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission to take action to invalidate this flawed and…
U.S. IP Policy Spins Out of Control in the 2018 Special 301 Report
Favorite Certain reports and publications from U.S. government agencies, such as those of the Congressional Research Service, have become important reference works due to their reputation for being relatively in-depth, up to date, and factual. The United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) Special 301 Report [PDF], the latest annual edition of which was released last week, is not such a report. The…
The Post-TPP Future of Digital Trade in Asia
Favorite On March 8, trade representatives from eleven Pacific rim countries including Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Australia are expected to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership, now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The agreement has been slimmed down both in its content—22 items in the text have been suspended, including the…