Free Trade Agreements with the United States, Rulemaking and TPMs: Why Asian Pacific Nations Should Resist Increased Regulation of TPMs in their Domestic Copyright Laws

The technological protection measures (TPMs) mandated for all signatory States in the copyright section of the Comprehensive and Progessive Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), conform to the United States’ Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). However these measures do not acknowledge the rulemaking process by the Copyright Register that continues to moderate the provisions of the DMCA for certain users in the United States. Focusing on New Zealand, this article contrasts the TPMs required by the CTPP with the most recent rulemaking and explains why domestic compliance with the CTPP by Asian Pacific countries should proceed with caution. States entering into free trade agreements with the United States should be wary of amending their national copyright laws in ways that will result in their citizens placed at a disadvantage.