U.S. Floats Nafta Proposal That Could Erode Copyright-Liability Protection
September 26 2017 - 5:38PM
Dow Jones News
By William Mauldin
The U.S. has floated copyright language in North American Free
Trade Agreement talks that could erode internet companies'
liability protections for pirated content, according to lobbyists
and congressional aides familiar with the negotiations.
In the latest round of talks in Ottawa to overhaul Nafta, U.S.
negotiators formally introduced language that didn't include some
of the well-established safeguards that protect Alphabet Inc.'s
YouTube and other service providers from liability over pirated
content posted by users, a tech-industry lobbyist said.
A U.S. official said the Trump administration hasn't finished
its intellectual property proposals yet and will add more language
in the future.
But the omission this week of "safe harbor" language favored by
internet businesses is adding to tech company concerns that the
administration is shifting highly sensitive copyright law toward
Hollywood studios, the recording industry and the owners of
intellectual property, according to people following the trade
debate.
Congressional aides familiar with the Nafta talks say U.S. trade
representative Robert Lighthizer is eager to boost intellectual
property provisions in Nafta, a pact that includes the U.S., Canada
and Mexico, potentially at the expense of internet businesses and
broadband service providers.
"Past free trade agreements have uniformly promoted U.S. laws so
that the entire American economy wins," said Noah Theran, spokesman
for the Internet Association, a trade group that includes Alphabet
and other major online companies. Mr. Lighthizer "should not cozy
up to Hollywood and content in Nafta negotiations, undermining the
will of Congress."
Trade agreements including Nafta cover not only tariffs and
quotas on physical goods but also commercial rules of the road on a
host of issues, including labor, the environment and intellectual
property.
Such pacts face a vote in Congress, which can enact them via
implementing legislation that makes changes to U.S. law. Lawmakers
don't welcome international deals that undercut major acts of
Congress, but the internet companies worry the Trump administration
could be using Nafta as a backdoor way to shift U.S. copyright
law.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), chairman of the Senate committee
that oversees trade, said Tuesday he hopes a renegotiated Nafta
will establish a model on intellectual property for future trade
agreements.
"If we look around the world we see unprecedented challenges for
America's artists," said Mr. Hatch, himself a songwriter, at a
Capitol Hill meeting on intellectual property, an issue he has
defended for years. "I believe the Trump administration understands
the seriousness of these problems."
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, former White House adviser
Steve Bannon and President Donald Trump all have ties to Hollywood
studios or television content. The Obama administration, by
contrast, was seen as closer to internet and technology
businesses.
Besides the big internet companies, a small but vocal and
well-organized constituency of consumers backs a free and open
internet with limitations on copyrights.
On the other side, actors and musicians are eager to defend
their content and want to make it easier to get pirated material
removed online. "Of course it would be welcome," said Barton
Herbison, head of the Nashville Songwriters Association
International, when asked about a possible shift toward
intellectual-property owners.
In the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an unratified 12-nation trade
agreement signed by former President Barack Obama, the U.S. struck
a balance on digital copyrights that didn't satisfy either side in
the debate. Still, internet companies and studios each supported
the deal because it would have given them other rights in the
sprawling trade bloc.
A 1996 U.S. law, which helped Washington implement international
agreements, included language known as "notice and take down,"
outlining a process for copyright holders to notify internet
companies about copyright infringement and ask the internet firms
to take the content down.
But for the Nafta revision the Motion Picture Association of
America backs more liability for internet intermediaries for
pirated content.
Such a proposal may generate resistance in Canada, where policy
makers don't tend to support the level of copyright protection seen
in Washington, industry experts say.
Write to William Mauldin at william.mauldin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 26, 2017 17:23 ET (21:23 GMT)
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