Last Friday saw the latest in a trickle of leaks of the negotiating text from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. The subject of the latest leak is the proposed language on limitations and exceptions in the controversial intellectual property chapter of the agreement.

This past week has been a huge week for copyright, in Australia and internationally. Domestically, late Friday afternoon saw the release of both the finalised terms of reference for the ALRC’s inquiry into copyright exceptions, and the Attorney General’s review of TPMs.

Yesterday the Australian Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) presented Parliament with a damning report into Australia’s negotiation of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The Committee, comprising members from both houses of Parliament, was unanimous in recommending against Australia’s ratification of ACTA (for now).

In an intriguing follow-up to last year’s leaking of the draft TPPA intellectual property chapter, last week the negotiating text of the controversial TPPA investment chapter was leaked to the public by Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. The leaked provisions require states party to the agreement to provide a wide range of privileges to overseas investors. These include;