Vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google. He is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies and applications on the Internet and other platforms for the company.

Humanity's first steps into the digital world could be lost to future historians, Vint Cerf told the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting in San Jose, California, warning that we faced a "forgotten generation, or even a forgotten century" through what he called "bit rot", where old computer files become useless junk.

"the rights of preservation might need to be incorporated into our thinking about things like copyright and patents and licensing. We're talking about preserving them for hundreds to thousands of years," said Cerf.

If enacted, the TSPA would create a private right of action (very similar to that provided by the Uniform Trade Secrets Act ("UTSA")); permit the civil ex parte seizure of relevant evidence and of the trade secrets, to prevent their further use or disclosure; permit such actions to be brought under a five-year statute of limitations; and requiring the Attorney General to issue an annual report on the international threat of trade secrets misappropriation. There is apparently a 57% chance of the TSPA being enacted.

The protection of U.S. trade secrets from misappropriation is an Administration priority. As noted in the Administration Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets (February 2013), "trade secret theft threatens American businesses, undermines national security, and places the security of the U.S. economy in jeopardy." In pursuit of the goals of the Administration Strategy through information sharing and discussion, the United States Patent and Trademark Office will hold a public symposium on issues relevant to the protection of trade secrets. Topics to be discussed include losses due to trade secret theft and challenges to protecting trade secrets, the intersection of patent and trade secret protection, trade secret issues in civil litigation, trade secret protection in foreign jurisdictions, and proposed responses to the threat of trade secret theft in the U.S.

We strongly oppose the hasty push by the European Commission and Council for a new European Union (EU) directive on trade secrets, which contains overly-broad protection and inadequate safeguards. This unbalanced piece of legislation will result in legal uncertainty and endanger freedom of expression and information, corporate accountability, information sharing and, possibly, innovation, rather than create a competitive and sound business environment in the EU, as the Commission claims.

If the draft directive, which the Commission published in November 2013, is passed, consumers, workers, researchers, journalists and whistleblowers in the EU will be at risk. The definition of 'trade secrets' in the draft directive is unreasonably broad, enabling almost anything within a company to be deemed as such. Unsurprisingly, the draft directive text is strongly supported by multinational companies because it would enable them to sue anyone who "unlawfully acquires, uses or discloses" their so-called trade secrets. Instead, the right to freely use and disseminate information should be the rule, and trade secret protection the exception.

The elevation of trade secrecy is baked into the most recent leaked May 2014 IP chapter from the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). TPP, which is concluding yet another negotiating round today, is bringing trade secrecy to the international stage through efforts to harmonize IP law across continents and cultures. The role of secrecy is varied from country to country, but that has not stopped the TPP negotiators from apparently proposing language that would require criminal sanctions for unauthorized access to trade secrets.

The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), with the help of the United States and an international plant variety organisation, is working to grow regional support for a controversial draft law. The draft protocol would boost protection for new plant varieties, despite concerns of local civil society that it would not be in the best interest of ARIPO members' food security due to its potential impact on small farmers. ARIPO held a regional workshop on the issue in recent weeks in part to build support for a treaty negotiation to lock in these protections.

The event restricted the attendance of civil society, according to the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA). At the event, the group confirmed its fears about the impact of the adoption of the protocol on small farmers and food security. ARIPO, meanwhile, said it had not heard particular worries from farmers over time.

These national laws will enable the entry of foreign breeders and threaten the rights of small-scale farmers.

AFSA's goal over the next three years in this area will be: to build the capacity of AFSA members to influence regional and national seed legislation and policies towards protection of farmers’ rights in seed sovereignty. This will happen through and with the seed network that already exists. AFSA will help grow this into a continent-wide platform over the next three years.

The current legislative framework is not necessarily fit for purpose in the digital environment.

Clarify which tools are available to identify IPR infringers: clarify the retention and disclosure of personal data by intermediaries, in order to improve identification in case of commercial scale infringements while guaranteeing the protection of fundamental rights of individuals (thus avoiding abuses); clarify to what extent due diligence obligations such as « know your customer » are or should be imposed on intermediaries.

Acts carried out on a commercial scale include at least those carried out as commercial activities for direct or indirect economic or commercial advantage.

Improve the efficiency of actions to stop IPR infringements through better involvement of intermediaries: clarify the notion of intermediary in the context of Directive 2004/48 (are payment and advertising service providers included ?), clarify the conditions for imposing injunctions on them (to what extent should intermediaries be involved in the infringement ?), clarify what type of injunction can be imposed on intermediaries (which measures ? should priority be given to the « follow the money principle » to deprive commercial scale infringers of the revenue flows that draw them into such activities?); clarify the duration of injunctions and the possibility of obtaining cross-border or even pan-European injunctions.

Promote cooperative efforts within the business community to effectively address trademark and copyright or related rights infringement

Improve the accessibility of judicial systems, in particular for SMEs: introduce fast track procedures for small claims.

Each Party shall provide that its judicial authorities have the authority to adopt provisional measures inaudita altera parte where appropriate

Clarify the allocation of damages: increase the predictability of the amounts allocated and ensure that damages awarded are sufficient to cover the prejudice suffered

In determining the amount of damages for infringement of intellectual property rights, a Party’s judicial authorities shall have the authority to consider, inter alia, any legitimate measure of value the right holder submits, which may include lost profits, the value of the infringed goods or services measured by the market price, or the suggested retail price.

In a publication, the Rural Studies Collective (Cer-Ixim) warned about the consequences of this "Monsanto Law".

They explained that under this law the possession or exchange of seeds of protected varieties without the breeder's authorisation will be illegal and punishable by imprisonment.

It will also be illegal, and punishable by prison, to posses the harvest from such seeds or to save them for future plantings.

According to the law, the breeder's right extends to "varieties essentially derived from the protected variety." In this sense, a hybrid produced from a protected variety crossed with an unprotected variety would automatically belong to the breeder of the patented variety.

The law thus promotes privatisation and monopolies over seeds, endangering food sovereignty, especially that of indigenous peoples, said Cer-Ixim. It also warned that Guatemala's biodiversity will fall "under the control of domestic and foreign companies."

The growing opposition to the "Monsanto Law" comes from diverse sectors of civil society such as indigenous organisations, environmental groups, scientists, artists and members of Congress.

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Artists and television celebrities have joined an online signature campaign to reject the law.

Their petition is addressed to the President, Otto Perez Molina, via the Avaaz website, and argues that the law is unconstitutional.

"This law violates articles of the Constitution relating to the Protection of Individuals, Cultural Identity, Natural Heritage, Right to Health, the principles of the Economic and Social Regime, in addition to the obligation of the state to protect consumers," the petition states.