Watch The President Use Fair Use To Support A Trade Deal That Undermines Fair Use

Politics

from the three-step-test dept

Lots of people are talking about the fact that President Obama went on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday night to “slow jam the news” and play up a bunch of his accomplishments while stumping for the TPP agreement. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s here:

Here’s the key part on TPP:

“I believe it is of the utmost importance to work alongside other leaders. That’s why I signed the Iran nuclear deal, that?s why we reopened diplomatic ties with Cuba, and that is why I negotiated the new trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP,” Obama said, to the backdrop of the Roots.

“Now, hold on there, Prez dispenser. Are you saying you?re down with TPP?” Fallon responded.

“Yeah, you know me. Look, Jimmy, the TPP allows American businesses to sell their products both at home and abroad. The more we sell abroad, the more higher-paying jobs we provide at home. It?s that simple,” Obama said.

“So what are you saying, that this trade deal would put Americans back to work, work, work, work, work?” Fallon said, singing Rihanna as Obama joined in.

The President is being misleading, but we’ll get to that. The really amusing point, as pointed out by Johnjac is that the little Rihanna homage breakdown there is legal thanks to fair use. But the TPP, contrary to the claims of some, actually looks to limit fair use, by putting in place a test (that US fair use wouldn’t currently qualify for) — and making any fair use optional.

So… that seems like a bit of irony. But it’s the kind of thing almost no one is going to comment on, because ha ha, the President is singing and it’s funny.

As for the claim that the TPP allows American businesses to sell their products both at home and abroad, that’s… not really true. Most American businesses can already sell their products at home (obviously) and abroad. The TPP only removes tariffs and other restrictions in a few limited cases. It’s not really going to open up that many markets. And as we’ve seen with other trade deals (e.g., NAFTA) it’s arguable how much it helps to put Americans who are out of work “back to work.” But if this were just about trade then he might have a point, but as we’ve pointed out over and over again, trade is such a small part of the TPP. So much more of it is about “non-tariff barriers” which is basically another way of talking about setting up protectionist laws like stronger copyright and patent requirements.

Filed Under: barack obama, copyright, fair use, jimmy fallon, president obama, slow jam, tpp