[Linux-aus] Resurrected TPP

[Jonathan Woithe]

It appears our political masters have resurrected the TPP, modified the name
and are getting ready to drop this on us in the next couple of months:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-24/tpp-resurrected-as-nations-get-set-to-sign-trade-deal/9354502
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-24/what-is-the-new-tpp-and-what-does-it-mean-for-australia/9357020

They're calling it by the rather clumsy name of "Comprehensive and
Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)".  What's not at
all clear from the above articles is whether the contentious Intellectual
Property provisions have been included in this new version.

The nuts and bolts of the agreement were hammered out in November 2017, as
described here:

http://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/tpp/news/Pages/trans-pacific-partnership-ministerial-statement.aspx

The text of the agreement documents are linked on this page.  While Annex II
indicates that a small number of provisions in chapter 18 ("Intellectual
Property") have been "suspended" (whatever that means in practice), it still
seems to leave vast portions intact.  If this is the case it would appear
that many of the problems for FOSS created by the original TPP text will
still apply to the new CPTPP agreement.

The above is the result of a cursory look at the relevant documents.  Others
with more familiarity of the subject may be able to provide more clarity and
determine whether we ought to be concerned about this latest development.

Regards
  jonathan