한미 FTA 저지 지적재산권 분야 대책위원회

[Press Release] Stop KORUS FTA ! Poisonous articles on Intellectual Property chapter

1. Shutting down Internet sites that permit the unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or transmission of copyright works, is it declaring surrender to the pressure from the U.S.?
2. Strengthening enforcement on Intellectual Property Rights, are they trying to damage the order of constitution and make the government and the judicial division slaves of the right-holders?
3. The Korea-US FTA Intellectual Property chapter failed to reflect the principle of the intellectual property being the balance between right-holders and users and failed to establish an independent and democratic intellectual property policy.


After the full text of the Korea-US FTA became public, unreleased poisonous articles are getting revealed. We find that they include many articles that the government did not open to public right after the agreement was made even in relation to the intellectual property chapter. It is hard to believe that the intellectual property agreement process was to accept requests from the U.S. unilaterally and the side letter even includes several obligations only for South Korea. It is nothing but a surrender declaration to pressure from the U.S.

Also the agreement includes that not only strengthening higher level of legal protection than international standards and other FTA the U.S. made with other countries already but also allowing excessive executive and legal measures to be used to protect the right. Furthermore, Korea-US FTA allows overruling rights against Korean constitutions and legal policies.

Although the principle of Intellectual Property regime is the balance between the protection of rights and the use hence the government and the judicial division should try to establish this balance as public sectors, this agreement makes them as slaves for the right-holder and multi-national entertainment company as well. Are the right-holders really untouchable beings whom even the public sectors have to serve? It is inappropriate to utilize the administrative power and tax in biased way for the benefit of one party even when the disputes over intellectual property are basically disputes between private sectors and there are administrative and legal procedures to protect rights in place already. However, the agreement does not give any considerations over protections or rights of the users, that is to say, “fair use” which are being threatened.

More information : http://nofta-ip.jinbo.net/?q=node/150

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Kim Jeong Woo (PatchA)
Korean Progressive Network 'Jinbonet'
Tel) +82-2-701-7687
Fax) +82-2-701-7112
Email) i@patcha.jinbo.net / patcha@patcha.jinbo.net
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□ Confirmation letter (Online Piracy Prevention)
- Full text - http://www.mofat.go.kr/mofat/fta/eng/e45.pdf

* The Parties agree on the objective of shutting down Internet sites that permit the unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or transmission of copyright works, of regularly assessing and actively seeking to reduce the impact of new technological means for committing online copyright piracy, and of providing generally for more effective enforcement of intellectual property rights on the Internet.

* Korea also agrees on the objective of shutting down Internet sites that permit the unauthorized downloading (and other forms of piracy) of copyright works, including so-called webhard services, and providing for more effective enforcement of intellectual property rights on the Internet, including in particular with regard to peer-to-peer (p2p) services.

*Korea will work to prevent, investigate, and prosecute internet piracy. In doing so, Korea will work with the private sector, the other Party, and other foreign authorities.

□ Confirmation letter (Promoting Protection and Effective Enforcement of Copyrighted works on University Campuses)
- Full text - http://www.mofat.go.kr/mofat/fta/eng/e46.pdf

* The Parties recognize the importance of preventing illegal copying and distribution of copyrighted works on university campuses and providing effective enforcement against book piracy. Therefore, consistent with Korea's May 2004 Master Plan for IPR, Korea agrees to continue to increase its efforts to improve awareness of copyright infringement activities and book piracy on university campuses and reduce illegal reproduction and distribution of copyrighted works.


The Full text of IP Chapter is below
■ Intellectual Property Rights
- http://www.mofat.go.kr/mofat/fta/eng/e43.pdf

Confirmation letter (Internet Service Provider)
- http://www.mofat.go.kr/mofat/fta/eng/e44.pdf

Confirmation letter (Promoting Protection and Effective Enforcement of Copyrighted works on University Campuses)
- http://www.mofat.go.kr/mofat/fta/eng/e46.pdf

Confirmation letter (Online Piracy Prevention)
- http://www.mofat.go.kr/mofat/fta/eng/e45.pdf

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[Opinions and writings]

• [EFF] Latest U.S. Free Trade Agreement Contains New Twist
• [EFF] Exporting Bad IP Laws Through Free Trade Agreements
• [APC] Poisonous articles on IPR in Korea-US FTA
  
• [P2P Foundation] Support Korean request for defense of free culture
  
• [CSM@remo Blog] Free Trade vs. Free People: Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Provisions in Korea-US ‘Free’ Trade Agreement (FTA)
  
• [Bilateral.org] Poisonous articles on IPR chapter in Korea-US FTA (eg. shutting down internet sites)
• [LaborNet] Poisonous Articles For IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) in Korea-US FTA

[Artilces]

• KOREA: No more free downloads of music after FTA

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Brief Introduction of Korean Civil Soceity Coalition against KORUS FTA on Intellectual Property Rigthts(KCSC)

Korean Civil Soceity Coalition against KORUS FTA on Intellectual Property Rigthts(KCSC) was officially launched on April 11th, 2006. We(KCSC) are deeply worried about the Korea-US FTA negotiations especially on the issues of Intellectual Property Rights(IPR) such as copyright, patent and trademark and we strongly oppose the whole process of Korea-US FTA negotiations.

Considering FTAs that the US negotiated with other countries such as Australia and Singapore, and what the US has been demanding from the Korean government thus far, we assume that the US will request IPR protection similar to or stronger than the US IPR laws. And it has also requested many policies to threaten the rights of people to their health and culture. We think it will bring about dangerous situations, for example, to destroy Korean people’s public health and to obstruct fair use, science research, technology advancement and publishing.

In this coalition, six civil society organizations(Citizens’ Action Network, Cultural Action, Nanuri+HIV/AIDS Human Rights Advocacy Group of Korea, Intellectual Property Left 'IPLeft', Korean Progressive Network 'Jinbonet', Public Pharmaceutical Center) have joined.

Contact Information:
- Hee-Seob Nam (Chairperson of KCSC), hurips@gmail.com
- PatchA (Coordinator of CKA), i@patcha.jinbo.net / ipleft@jinbo.net
- Tel) +82-2-717-9551

▼ KCSC's Official Statement and Materials in English