<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/biden-urged-to-protect-repair-rights-in-indo-pacific-trade-talks" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/biden-urged-to-protect-repair-rights-in-indo-pacific-trade-talks&source=gmail&ust=1694628140718000&usg=AOvVaw14IFqM7kFuo0033PmxXeDK" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class="">https://news.bloomberglaw.com/<wbr class="">ip-law/biden-urged-to-protect-<wbr class="">repair-rights-in-indo-pacific-<wbr class="">trade-talks</a></span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 19pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">Biden Urged to Protect Repair Rights in Indo-Pacific Trade Talks<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">By Isaiah Poritz | September 12, 2023 7:00AM ET </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">The Biden administration should protect the right to repair for consumers, farmers, and small business</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">owners in ongoing “digital trade” negotiations in the proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework,</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">advocacy groups wrote in a Tuesday letter to the White House.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">The National Farmers Union, iFixit, and the American Economic Liberties Project were among the</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">groups expressing concern that the 14-country economic initiative will include a “source code” clause</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">that would provide corporations will broad secrecy rights over software and algorithm specifications</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">and descriptions.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">“This rule could thwart right to repair requirements imposed on manufacturers, including obligations to</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">grant access to diagnostic software and the sharing of digital ‘keys’ needed to fix equipment,” said the</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">letter, which was also signed by the Center for Democracy and Technology, Consumer Reports,</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">Public Knowledge, and others.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">The right-to-repair movement has picked up legislative steam at the federal and state levels over the</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">past few years. Numerous states have passed right-to-repair laws for consumer electronics and</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">automobiles, and Congress has seen a set of bipartisan repair bills introduced.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2021 instructing the Federal Trade Commission to</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">examine how equipment manufacturers are hindering consumers’ right to repair a range of electronic</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">and mechanical devices. Right-to-repair groups have also sought to amend federal copyright law to</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">provide greater access to device firmware.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">The Office of the US Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce entered a fifth round of</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">negotiations over the economic framework on Sunday in Bangkok, Thailand. The IPEF, first proposed</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">by Biden last May, aims to strengthen trade and supply chain resiliency between the US and about a</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">dozen countries in the Indo-Pacific region, including India, Australia, Vietnam, and South Korea.</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">Tech companies heavily lobbied US trade officials over the agreement’s digital trade rules to protect</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">them from regulation in other countries, Bloomberg previously reported.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">The advocacy groups said the tech industry is pushing for a source code clause modeled after</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">language from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the 2020 replacement for the North</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">The letter acknowledged that the Biden administration had not included such a clause in its initial draft</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">IPEF text shared with other countries in February, but said the administration should provide greater</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">transparency into the trade negotiations.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">The USMCA’s source code clause includes a definition of “algorithms” that is so broad that it “could</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">even cover a diagnostic test that is coded into devices’ firmware,” the letter said.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">Many of the current state right-to-repair laws and bills require the equipment manufacturer to make</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">diagnostic software, tools, and documentation available.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">“Inclusion in U.S. trade pacts of language that could be read as a broad, potentially open ended ban</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">on policies that require firms to give fair access to software’s source code and algorithms would</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">undermine our efforts to ensure that consumers and small businesses can fix their own devices and</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">equipment,” the groups’ letter said.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">To contact the reporter on this story: Isaiah Poritz in Washington at <a href="mailto:iporitz@bloombergindustry.com" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class="">iporitz@bloombergindustry.com</a><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tonia Moore at <a href="mailto:tmoore@bloombergindustry.com" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class="">tmoore@bloombergindustry.com</a>;</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">Adam M. Taylor at <a href="mailto:ataylor@bloombergindustry.com" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class="">ataylor@bloombergindustry.com</a></span></div></div></body></html>