Sony
emails reveal TPP concerns
Leaked
emails between executives of Sony Pictures have revealed concerns in
the United States over the secrecy of talks related to the
Trans-Pacific Partnership.
19
April, 2015
The
emails about the proposed 12 country accord are included in documents
stolen from Sony by hackers last year, and now made public on a
special database set up by WikiLeaks.
US Trade Representative Mike Froman (C) speaks at a press conference for
the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), in Sydney last year. - Photo: AFP/FILE
One
email from a Sony executive invited the company's chief executive to
meet the United States trade representative Michael Froman to discuss
Sony promoting the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
It
said President Barack Obama and Mr Froman were keen for the company
to talk up the partnership, though it noted the talks were a closed
process so the way intellectual property was being handled was a
secret.
Another
email also revealed calls by IT companies for secrecy over IP and
copyright issues related to the deal to be lifted, so they could
judge what was on the table.
Meanwhile,
a key opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership has said the leaked
emails reveal the intimate relationship between American trade
negotiators and top US industries.
Auckland
law professor Jane Kelsey said many key industries know exactly what
is on the table.
"Not
only do industry representatives sit on the committee that advises
the negotiators, and we believe actually have access to the text, but
they were even clearing their press releases in response to the
leaked text past the trade negotiator before they were released."
And
she said Mr Obama's introduction of the American trade bill as
reassurance for TPP countries was do or die.
She
said far from being a sure thing, the Democrats are deeply divided
over whether to pass the legislation.
"There
is very little chance it would get through the House of
Representatives, Obama needs to rely on the Republicans, there is a
huge Democrat groundswell against it, so the chances of it passing
are in fact pretty minimal."
Ms
Kelsey says it would be a massive risk to commit to the proposed TPP
until that bill is passed
SONY
EMAILS SHOW INDUSTRY EXECS PUSHING FOR TRADE DEAL
BY
LEE FANG
19
April, 2015
(This
is an item from our new blog: Unofficial
Sources.)
Broadcast media
has not
devoted much
air time to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, an
agreement that will greatly impact 40 percent of the global economy.
But hacked emails from Sony reveal that media industry executives
have been engaged in active discussions about the agreement behind
closed doors.
On April
17, 2014,
Steven Fabrizio, the general counsel of the Motion Picture
Association of America, sent out an update to industry executives —
including Maren Christensen of NBC and Alan Braverman of Disney, the
parent company of ABC News — detailing lobbying efforts by the
MPAA. “Finally, in regard to trade,” Fabrizio wrote, “the
MPAA/MPA with the strong support of your studios, continue to
advocate to governments around the world about the pressing need for
strong pro-IP trade policies such as TPP and the proposed EU/US trade
agreement (TTIP).”
In
an email dated February 20, 2014, MPAA
president Chris Dodd shared
a letter he wrote concerning the TPP deal with executives from NBC,
Viacom, Disney and Time Warner, the parent company of CNN. The
letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman decried the
potential inclusion of “fair use” doctrine in the TPP, telling
Froman that “the potential export of fair use via these agreements
raises serious concerns within the community I represent.” Dodd
also said he was worried about “indications from the US government
that the ISP liability provisions in the TPP are going to be
weakened.”
On November
7, 2013,
Keith Weaver, a senior executive for Sony’s government affairs
department, wrote to Michael Lynton, the chief executive of Sony
Pictures, to tell him about a meeting about the trade deal, following
up on an earlier one at the White House:
I understand you may be contacted by [Disney chief] Bob Iger or United States Trade Representative, Michael Froman to invite you (+ one) to a meeting at Disney next Friday (the 15th). While I’m not aware of the details of this meeting (time or agenda), my sense is that much of the discussion will center on the TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP (TPP, which is a pending multilateral trade agreement with 12 countries that boarder the Pacific Ocean) – you’ll recall this was one of the key topics of your meeting with Froman and your peers at the White House last year.
As
I’ve reported in the past, Time Warner, Comcast, and Disney,
despite failing to devote air time to the TPP trade deal,
have registered
lobbyists to
promote the deal.
A
Media Matters report found
that a “transcript search of the CBS Evening
News,
ABC’s World
News Tonight,
and NBC’s Nightly
News from
August 1, 2013, through January 31, 2015, found no mention of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership.” The same report found that The
Ed Show on
MSNBC was the only cable news program to devote significant coverage
to the issue. “During the same 18-month period, CNN and Fox News
each mentioned the TPP during two broadcasts.”
Photo:
Henning Schacht-Pool/Getty
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