EFF – Maira Sutton: “A newly leaked chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement from Wikileaks has confirmed some of our worst fears about the agreement. The latest provisions would enable multinational corporations to undermine public interest rules through an international tribunal process called investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). Under this process, foreign companies can challenge any new law or government action at the federal, state, or local level, in a country that is a signatory to the agreement. Companies can file such lawsuits based upon their claim that the law or action harms their present or future profits. If they win, there are no monetary limits to the potential award. This type of tribunal process is not entirely new—similar provisions in other international agreements have been used to undermine laws regarding the environment, health, and other regulatory areas. However, this new leaked text has revealed how these investor-state provisions could also be used to undermine user protections built into digital regulations, including copyright rules. The TPP Investment chapter encompasses intellectual property in its definition of foreign investment, including all “other tangible or intangible, movable or immovable property.” In this way, it is similar to ISDS provisions in other trade agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Under NAFTA, pharmaceutical giant Eli Lily, took advantage of this broad definition to target a Canadian court ruling that found one of its patents invalid. They are demanding Canada give them $500 million in damages, claiming that Canada has “expropriated” their property through this decision. This is one of the few, if only, known cases where an investor-state case has been filed over a patent issue. Since policymakers now always seem to group together patents, copyrights, trademarks, and other kinds of intangible “property” together, it is not a far leap for Big Content companies to feel emboldened by this patent case to begin undermining user rights in copyright law as well.”