Regional Trade Agreements and Copyright Law: The Necessity of Renegotiating The TPP

The past decade has witnessed an increase in the use of regional trade agreements (RTAs) to drive trade and the economy by fostering cooperation within a region. The benefits and limitations of RTAs have been widely discussed in extant literature; however, this article analyses the rationale for the recent introduction of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP), following the withdrawal of the United States of America from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). More specifically, this article examines the necessity for renegotiating the TPP from the perspective of Australian copyright law. In this article, the author argues that although there are clear theoretical benefits of cooperating regionally through RTAs, RTAs are governed by the limitations of power balances that are often present during their negotiation. This article draws on the theory of international co-operation together with case studies of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) and the TPP, to examine the benefits and limitations of negotiating RTAs. The author concludes that, owing to to the presence of power imbalances, the TPP required renegotiation, which significantly reduced the original copyright provisions. The agreement overwhelmingly represented the US copyright agenda at the expense of Australian copyright law interests, thus failing to promote the copyright balance.