A VentureBeat article talked about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement, of which a draft text has been released by controversial classified content publisher Wikileaks had released this week. Until the document was released, the literature had not been an important topic within the startup community.
The TPP is a trade agreement between international nations, including the US, that seeks to promote the liberalization of economies within the Asia-Pacific nation. VentureBeat pointed out that the discussions were done in private unlike the previous administration under former US President George W Bush. Since the start of negotiations in December of last year, countries aside from the US who came on board to discuss about the details of such agreement were Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, Australia, Brunei, Chile and Canada. The countries, including the US, makes up 40% of worldwide production and one-third of global treat. VentureBeat deemed that the agreement could be detrimental to the startup community, even claiming that the trade agreement might have adverse effects on startups in the US on certain points.
For one, TPP is reportedly supported by over 600 multinationals and interests including corporate giants Pfizer, Walmart, Nike and General Motors. These companies, the tech news site said, had access to the full text of the TPP draft. However, new and young technology businesses, or startups had not been given access nor voice to the agreement, considering startups are the real creators of economic value, said Venturebeat. Another point is the provisions on patents and its standards pose a threat for startups, which have been fighting bad patents of copycat companies or other businesses. Also, provisions that protect information by implementing aggressive copyright measures would impede startups' ability to develop new products or services due to information that they do not have money to pay for. Moreover, the TPP draft is biased on startups who tend to almost veer away from certain laws and standards that they come close to violating them. VentureBeat pointed out that startups will get less attractive to investors who wishes to play safe with their financial investments.
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