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Negotiating Intellectual PropertyProvisions n FreeTrade Agreements.A Workshopon November 19,2003sponsoredn Miami, Florida by:The Programon IntellectualPropertyand he Public Interest WashingtonCollegeof Law, American University, USAThe ConsumerProject on Technology,Washington,DC USA and heCentro nterdisciplinario de Derecho ndustrial y Econ6mico CEIDIE)BuenosAires, ArgentinaBriefing Paper:TECHNOLOGICAL PROTECTIONMEASURES SSUESPAPERGwen Hinze, Esq.Staff AttorneyElectronic Frontier FoundationEmail: 2We!!@eff.org
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A. THE ISSUEArticle 21 of Section3 of the Ff AA draft IntellectualPropertychapter equiressignatory countries o adopt egal protection or technologicalprotectionmeasures TPMs) addedby rightsholders o copyrightedworks. Although legal protection s sought or thelegitimate purposeof protecting ightsholders'copyrights, he United States'experience with similar provisions n the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) demonstratesthat overbroad egal protection may havemany seriousunintendedeffects. The Ff AA November 2002 draft IP chaptercontains wo versionsof Article 21. Whilethe first would extendexisting nternational reaty protections o broadcasters,he secondformulation s much broaderand would:(1) supplantexisting national copyright systems;(2) impair accesso digital information andwiden the digital divide;(3) entrench he use of monopoly-pricedproprietaryproductsand services,and result in a net wealth transfer rom signatorycountries' economieso U.S. copyright owners;and(4) potentially undermineother mportantpolicy goalsby chilling scientific researchand stifling technological nnovation n domesticsoftwareand consumerelectronics sectors.
B. BACKGROUND ON TECHNOLOGICAL PROTECfION MEASURES (TPMs)
Article 11 of the 1996WIPO Copyright Treaty and Article 18 of the WIPO Performancesand Phonograms reaty (the.aMPI Copyright Treaties) equire signatorycountries o1
 
provide "adequate egal protection and effective egal remediesagainst he circumventionof effective technologicalmeasures"addedby copyright owners o their works. Copyright industries n the U.S., however,pressed or considerablymore protection. Theresult was the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which went urther than theOMP! Copyright Treaties equired.The DMCA hassincebecome he model that U.S. trade negotiatorshave urged on its trading partners.The DMCA's TPM provisionsban both acts of circumventingTPMs usedby copyright owners o control accesso their works, as well as any device,service or technology hatis primarily designedor useful for circumvention.Theseprohibitions apply even f the intendeduse of the copyrightedwork would not infringe copyright. So, for example,under U.S. law there s a copyright exceptionallowing blind persons o translatebooksinto Braille. Under the DMCA, blind personsare no longer able o exercise his right inconnectionwith e-books hat are protectedby TPMs.The DMCA includes 7 limited exceptions or certain socially beneficial activities,including security esting, everseengineeringof software,encryption esearch, nd aw enforcement. However, heseexceptionshaveproven nadequaten practice o protect many of these egitimate activities. Unfortunately, he proposedFTAA languagedoesnot include even hese imited U.S. exceptionsandbansa broader ange of conduct han the DMCAC. PROVISION PONSORSU.S. copyright ownershave obbied strongly or the ncorporationof this type ofprovision in both the FTAA and n the bilateral free trade agreementshat the U.S. hasrecently concludedwith Jordan,Singaporeand Chile, becauset provides an increased level of protection for their works beyondcopyright, hat s not dependent n provingcopyright infringement under eachcountry's differing copyright laws.
D. LIKELY IMPACT OF ADOPTING OVERBROAD LEGAL PROTECTION FOR TPMs
1. National Copyright System SupplantedA broad ban on circumventingTPMs, like the second ormulation proposed n Article 21of the FTAA, is likely to entirely supplanta signatorycountry's existing copyright law.In effect, this allows U.S. copyright owners' rights to trump national sovereigntyanddomesticpublic policy priorities.A similar provision inserted nto U.S. copyright aw by the DMCA in 1998has displacedthe careful balanceof public and private rights in U.S. copyright law createdby thelegislatureand udiciary over the last 130 years. t hasprovided U.S. copyright ownerswith an ncreased evel of protection abovecopyright aw, by granting them a new rightto control access o, and not merely useof, copyrightedworks. This hashad several results:
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The various statutoryexceptions o copyright aw (for instance, or uses n theeducation, ibrary and disabledpersons ommunities)have argely beenoverridden or technologically-protected igital information.Most importantly, t haseffectively eliminated he ability to make "fair use" ofprotecteddigital works. In U.S. copyright aw, fair usepermits someone o makea reasonable se of a copyrightedwork for a socially useful purposesuchas
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education,criticism or parody, or for a consumer'spersonaluse (such as home video recording of television), without having o ask prior pennission rom acopyright owner. Fair use s intended o guarantee ublic access o copyrightedmaterial to facilitate productiveusesof information and ree speech.The DMCA bansconsumersrom circumventingTPMs to make air use of a protecteddigital work, such asmaking a back-upcopy of a copy-protectedCD or DVD that they havepurchased n addition, echnologyvendorsare banned rom producing or selling technologiesand devices hat consumers eed f they are o enjoycopyright exceptions hat would otherwiseapply to digital media.In other words, U.S. copyright ownershaveusedTPMs backedby the DMCA to redraw the copyright balanceand unilaterally set how much protectionwill be given to theirwork. Similar resultswould likely occur n FTAA signatorycountries f the second formulation of Article 21 is adopted.2. Impaired AccessTo InformationThe second ormulation of Article 21 would also have a substantialdetrimental mpact onthe ability of educators, tudentsand researchersn FTAA signatorycountries o access digital information and echnology.The current draft of the Ff AA requiressignatorycountries o extendcopyright protection o facts and datawithin databases. sinformation is treatedas a copyrightableproduct and ncreasinglybecomesavailable only in a technologicallyprotected orm, fair dealing and personalcopying exceptions hatpreviously guaranteed ccesswill be technologicallyprecluded.This will increase he cost of accessingnformation and ultimately result n the widening of the knowledge gapbetween ndustrializedand unindustrializedcountries.3. Potential For Digital Lock-in And Net Wealth Transfer To U.S. CopyrightOwners.U.S. copyright ownershave used he DMCA's anti-circumventionprovisions o obtain amonopoly over uncopyrightable roductsand echnologies hat interoperatewith theirworks. This has seriousanti-competitive mplications or consumersn FTAA signatorycountries.For instance:
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Geographic Market Segmentation: The motion picture and video gameindustrieshaveused region coding" technologies, ackedby the DMCA and similar laws, to control the availability and pricing ofDVDs and video games nvarious geographic egions.Other copyright ndustriescan be expected o follow,potentially discriminating n both price and availability againstconsumersnvarious regionsof the world.
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Product Lock-in: Lexmark, he second argestprinter distributor in the UnitedStates,has used he DMCA to ban the saleof recycledLexmark printer cartridges, which were being sold to consumers t lower prices han new cartridgesandLexmark's own "authorized" remanufactured rinter cartridges.
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Attacking Interoperability: ChamberlainGroup, he manufacturerof anelectronic garagedoor opener,has used he DMCA in an attempt o ban the saleof a universalgaragedoor transmitter mported by its main competitor, Skylink,which can be programmed o openChamberlaingaragedoor units, as well as severalother brandsof garagedoor units. Under FTAA Article 21, vendorscould prevent ocal businessesrom creating
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