USMCA – New Agreement as to The Modernization of NAFTA Comes with Key Changes Regarding U.S. IP Rights

Late on September 30, an agreement (USMCA) was reached between the United States, Mexico and Canada which modernizes the 24 year old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

A substantial part of the agreement relates to intellectual property.

According to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) website, highlights for U.S. innovators and creators include:

• 10 years of data protection for biologic drugs and a robust scope of products eligible for protection.
• Require full national treatment for copyright and related rights so United States creators are not deprived of the same protections that domestic creators receive in a foreign market.
• Continue to provide strong patent protection for innovators by enshrining patentability standards and patent office best practices to ensure that United States innovators, including small- and medium-sized businesses, are able to protect their inventions with patents.
• Include strong protection for pharmaceutical and agricultural innovators.
• Require a minimum copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years, and for those works with a copyright term that is not based on the life of a person, a minimum of 75 years after first authorized publication.
• Require strong standards against the circumvention of technological protection measures that often protect works such as digital music, movies, and books.
• Establish appropriate copyright safe harbors to provide protection for IP and predictability for legitimate enterprises that do not directly benefit from the infringement, consistent with United States law.
• Provide important procedural safeguards for recognition of new geographical indications (GIs), including strong standards for protection against issuances of GIs that would prevent United States producers from using common names, as well as establish a mechanism for consultation between the Parties on future GIs pursuant to international agreements.
• Enhance provisions for protecting trademarks, including well-known marks, to help companies that have invested effort and resources into establishing goodwill for their brands.

To learn more, visit: https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/fact-sheets/2018/october/united-states–mexico–canada-trade-fa-1