TPP, RCEP and the Future of Copyright Norm-setting in the Asian Pacific

The past decade has seen two mega-regional intellectual property norm-setting exercises focusing on countries in the Asian Pacific region: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Taken together, these two mega-regional norm-setting exercises will have unlimited potential to shape future copyright norms in the Asian Pacific region. For countries involved in either the TPP or RCEP negotiations, legal obligations concerning new protection and enforcement standards will have to be incorporated into domestic law once the applicable agreement enters into force. These standards can be quite burdensome, as they often exceed what is currently required by the WTO TRIPS Agreement. Countries that happen to be members of both the TPP and the RCEP will also have to be ready to resolve conflicts between these two agreements, should they arise. Even those countries that remain outside of the TPP or RCEP negotiations may end up accepting norms enshrined in either agreement, or both, despite their lack of legal obligation to do so. In view of this potentially considerable change in the intellectual property norm-setting landscape in the Asian Pacific region, this chapter closely examines the roles of the TPP and the RCEP in shaping future regional copyright norms. It begins by discussing the historical origins of these two partnerships. It then highlights the similarities and differences between the copyright provisions in the TPP Agreement and a leaked draft of the RCEP intellectual property chapter. This chapter continues to explore the ramifications for the United States’ withdrawal from the TPP shortly after the inauguration of the Trump Administration in January 2017. It concludes by outlining the future of copyright norm setting in the Asian Pacific region