An Analysis of Fair Use and GIs in the Transition from NAFTA to USMCA

The North-American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was recently superseded by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The first agreement between the three countries was signed three decades ago and it meant the first-time inclusion of a whole chapter about intellectual property (IP) in a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).The practice has become common in the current panorama of intellectual property, where international free trade agreements are prolific. Patent law is the area which has shown the greater degrees of harmonization, but other topics are the ones that are attracting attention, because of the different opinions that exist in contracting countries.Two intellectual property areas were selected for analysis in this work, with the objective of identifying the missed opportunities for international IP protection in the renegotiation of the NAFTA agreement vis-à-vis the stances of the contracting parties and their IP tradition. The first one is the limitations and exceptions for copyright’s exclusive rights. The second one is the recognition and protection of geographical indications. The thesis presents an analysis of the problematics of such an attempt, considering the different approaches, priorities and intentions of each of the countries. It also explores the possible opportunities for future FTAs to implement specific IP provisions in those two areas, where the contracting parties have different opinions on the ideal solution for balancing the interests of the right-holders and the public interest