“Trade agreements are supposed to be mutually beneficial,” said Balsillie, who is chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators lobby group. OTTAWA—The federal government is facing calls — including warnings from BlackBerry’s co-founder — to be particularly vigilant when the upcoming NAFTA talks shift to intellectual property. Among the priorities, the U.S. document said NAFTA talks must break down barriers such as the “burdensome restrictions of intellectual property.” It listed about 10 goals under the IP section. Balsillie fears the IP provisions in NAFTA 2.0 could end up looking a lot like those Canada agreed to during TPP negotiations. He added that the IP provisions in TPP would’ve created only “incremental” changes because Canadian laws are already largely consistent with them.

Source: thestar July 19, 2017 23:48 UTC