Late Friday, a few short paragraphs of text were leaked that revealed something of the terms on fair use being negotiated in secret by the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP is a treaty currently being negotiated by nine Pacific Rim countries seeking to establish a new free-trade agreement on many issues, including intellectual property. The next negotiating round is set for early September in Leesburg, Virginia.

KUALA LUMPUR (August 7, 2012): Malaysia is against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) which seeks to extend the patent periods of medicines by foreign companies. Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the agreement, which is being negotiated among eleven countries including the US and Malaysia, would be detrimental to the local medical industry.

San Diego, California 10/7/2012 - The United States and its eight TPP partners made important progress at the 13th Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiating round that concluded today. The talks, which were held July 2-10, continued the march forward toward conclusion of the more than 20 chapters under negotiation between the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

After expressing their wish to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in November last year, Canada, Japan and Mexico conducted extensive behind-the-scenes lobbying for the favored invitations to be included in the current negotiations for this expanding Asia-Pacific free-trade pact. The TPP is a regional agreement aimed at achieving liberalizing trade relations between pact members, as well as agreement on other common regulatory issues.

In the face of intense criticism from business groups and members of Congress, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will once again hold off on tabling its proposal to provide a "safe harbor" for tobacco regulations at the thirteenth round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, which are slated to begin on July 2 in San Diego.

At the thirteenth round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, which kicks off next week in San Diego, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will once again refrain from tabling the most important missing pieces from its controversial access to medicines proposal. When it comes to intellectual property rights, USTR is expected to focus the group discussions on less controversial areas, including copyrights and general IPR provisions, sources said.

An official from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative this week confirmed that the U.S. is facing opposition from other countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks (TPP) on its proposal to make environmental commitments fully enforceable under the same dispute settlement mechanism as commercial obligations.

Experts this week held out the possibility that Japan and the U.S. could still reach a breakthrough agreement by the end of September that would ultimately allow Japan to enter the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. However, they conceded that a variety of political factors make the likelihood of such a breakthrough unclear, and agreed that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is still unable to fully focus his attention on the issue of TPP entry.

(Reuters) - The United States and eight other countries on Monday welcomed Mexico into talks aimed at reaching an Asia Pacific free trade agreement, but continued to mull over Canada and Japan's seven-month-old bids to join the negotiations.

LOS CABOS, Mexico, June 19 (Reuters) - Canada will join 10 other nations in talks aimed at creating an Asia Pacific free trade agreement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Tue sday, part of a bid to reduce reliance on the U.S. market in favor of fast-growing emerging economies. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks are aimed at creating a free-trade zone with a combined population of 658 million people and a gross domestic product of more than C$20 trillion ($19.65 trillion).