Trade deal could be bitter medicine
Found on Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday, 13 November 2013
WikiLeaks has exposed details of secret trade negotiations that could leave Australians paying more for drugs and medicines, movies, computer games and software, and be placed under surveillance as part of a US-led crackdown on internet piracy.
Intellectual property experts are critical of the draft treaty, which they say would help the multinational movie and music industries, software giants and pharmaceutical manufacturers to maintain and increase prices by reinforcing the rights of copyright and patent owners, clamping down on online piracy and raising obstacles to the introduction of generic drugs and medicines.
Not much of a surprise. The heavy lobbying efforts have to pay off somehow. Sadly there is nobody with deep pockets lobbying for common sense and fair use.