Open software industry hails TPP suspensions

Australia’s free and open source software (FOSS) community has been granted a “temporary reprieve” due to the suspension of 22 provisions of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement, according to Open Source Industry Australia (OSIA).

The provisions collectively cover nine of the 24 major issues that OSIA had raised about the TPP during a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties lodged in March 2016.

The 22 provisions have been suspended until the 11 nations involved in the TPP agree to end the suspension.

Collectively, the suspended provisions could have a devastating impact on the FOSS industry. For example, the TPP was set to make old technology re-patentable if new uses, methods or processes for a known product were developed.

Likewise, copyrights would have been expanded on existing works published prior to 2005, until 70 years after the author's death instead of the current 50, while those published by the federal or state governments would also have had copyright extended from 50 to 70 years after initial publication. The TPP would also make it difficult if not impossible for Australia to change its copyright terms in the future.

OSIA had also objected to a now suspended provision that would have required Australia to introduce laws prohibiting the circumvention of technological prevention measures or manufacturing, importing or distributing products capable of doing so.

The industry body had argued that the act of infringing copyright is already prohibited, and introducing a civil or criminal offence for infringing technological protection measures (TPM) would serve no public policy purpose but introduce a further impediment to the proliferation of useful works once their copyrights have expired.

Finally, a suspended provision would have reversed the presumption of innocence by requiring ISPs to immediately remove or disable access to materials simply alleged to be infringing on a right holder’s copyrights. ISPs would also have to make information on an alleged copyright infringer available if requested by a rights holder.

“OSIA’s members take a little solace in the knowledge that those nine particular measures no longer pose an immediate threat to the Australian FOSS industry, but to be frank the ‘suspensions’ in CPTPP represent no more than a temporary stay of execution,” OSIA company secretary Jack Burton said.

In addition, a number of other provisions that pose a threat to the FOSS industry remain. As OSIA noted in its submission to the standing committee, the industry body believes that despite being marketed as such, the TPP is not a treaty designed to enable free trade.

“Rather than the proliferation of free trade (which would be a worthy goal), TPP appears carefully crafted to ensure the proliferation of restrictions, not only on trade but on a vast array of unrelated endeavours too,” the submission states.

This would put the agreement at odds with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s commitment to ensuring free trade. At the recent ASEAN Summit, Turnbull said it is important to eliminate protectionism and support open and free trade.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Guido Vrola

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