Intellectual Property Law Without Secrets

Abstract

Secrecy, particularly effective secrecy, is on the wane, and with it, archaic forms of lawmaking must similarly be reconsidered and discarded. This essay posits that international negotiations regarding intellectual property (IP) laws like the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), and any future international IP lawmaking procedures, lessen the adherence to a theory of secret negotiations and embrace the inevitable and desirable need for the public to ask questions and offer meaningful input. The risk of attempting to continue on the current course, futile or not, pretending that secrecy is desirable, is erosion in the relevance of and confidence in IP law as a legitimate and effective form of regulation, as already seen in the death throes associated with ACTA.

Keywords: ACTA, TPP, secrecy, international law, intellectual property