[Linux-aus] FTA with China

[Craig Warner]

Last week I wrote a note about the Howard Governments push for regional 
FTA's. The concern was the after the debate on the AUSFTA Chapter 17, 
that Australia would push as a defacto arm of USA similar IP laws with 
these regional FTA's.

So when you read the following DFAT website under the Interectual 
Property Rights heading.

http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/china/framework/economic_framework.html

There is one line that stands outs.

"The Parties will work cooperatively bilaterally, regionally and 
multilaterally on matters of intellectual property protection."

The use of word "multilaterally" , could mean many things but to me 
indicates the affect of AUSFTA Chapter 17 could flow onto the 
China-Australia FTA.

Also from the *STUDY OF A BILATERAL FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (FTA) BETWEEN 
AUSTRALIA AND MALAYSIA

http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/malaysia/fta/tor.html
*

    * the potential for improved cooperation in areas such as
      competition policy and practices and intellectual property



In the Dissent *(http://www.dissent.com.au), BRYN DAVIES *wrote on 
AUSFTA’s implications for Australian intellectual property and 
communications industries. He shows AUSFTA’s intellectual property 
‘harmonisation’ provisions are identical to proposals the US failed to 
get approved within the framework of the World Intellectual Property 
Organisation because of their bias towards US interests.

So now what I can say is that US is picking and using regional countries 
like Australia, Singapore, Chile, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Panama one 
by one and slowly but surely getting it's own way by these funny FTA's 
to enforce it's framework in the WITO.

I hope my theory is wrong.

Craig