Steps to protect IP rights

INTERNET service providers in Brunei may soon have to ensure that pirated content created by local users is taken down under the proposed terms of a high-level regional trade deal.

Much has been said of the strict standards of intellectual property (IP) rights protection in the Trans Pacific Partnership - an ambitious free trade pact involving 11 countries including Brunei - and concerns have been raised about the viability of some of the less developed members being able to reach the benchmark set by one of the key negotiators, the United States.

Speaking exclusively to The Brunei Times, Probir Mehta, deputy assistant US Trade representative for intellectual property and innovation, said the IP provisions are perhaps not as draconian as people would like to believe.

"There is no website blocking that is contemplated, it is rather trying to ensure that... If you're creating a website for just having pirated music... it's going after people who actually do that trade," he said in an interview at The Empire Hotel and Country Club.

"We are looking at the TPP to provide a number of tools to help curb physical piracy as well as online piracy, as well as having strong criminal and civil measures that allow rights holders in a civil context to bring cases against pirates online." One of the key areas of contention - and controversy - is Internet freedom, which some critics say will be curtailed under the agreement. A draft of an intellectual property chapter leaked in early 2011 raised concerns among privacy experts and Internet freedom advocates because of a slew of proposed regulations on Internet use and the expansion of intellectual property laws.

OpenMedia, a Canadian NGO that advocates open and affordable Internet, said the deal would "force service providers to collect and hand over your private data without privacy safeguards, and give media conglomerates more power to send you fines in the mail, remove online content - including entire websites."

So if website operators, who host pirated content, are subject to criminal prosecution, what about consumers who illegally download that material? He added that ISPs have a integral responsibility to curb online piracy.

In Brunei, there are still no laws that adequately address the issue of Internet piracy. The country is still in the process of updating its IP legislation to bring it in line with international standards, and meet certain criteria within the TPP.

"As far as Internet piracy laws are concerned, the AGC (Attorney General's Chambers) has no plans yet until we have directions from the relevant authority with Internet piracy under their purview, in this case the AITI (Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry Brunei Darussalam)," said Nur Al-Ain Dr Hj Abdullah, deputy senior counsel at the chambers' IP Division.

Nur Al-Ain explained that if a copyright holder finds out his IP rights have been violated through illegal downloads or other online means, they will have to launch a complaint with the ISP that provides a platform for downloads - in Brunei's case, TelBru or DST.The Brunei Times