From Michael Geist (related post: see my Intellectual Property Imperialism):
Intellectual Property Appears to Figure Prominently In Wikileaks Cablegate
Intellectual property policy has long been closely linked to U.S. trade policy, so it should come as little surprise to find that it appears to figure prominently in the cables obtained by Wikileaks. Although only a couple hundreds have been posted thus far, the Guardian has supplied a full list of all 251,287 cables. The list includes tags for each cable, so that the subject matter can be decoded. The Guardian has also posted a glossary of the tags, but omits KIPR, which appears to be the intellectual property tag (I base this conclusion on the correlation between the KIPR tag and the WIPO tag, to a specific reference to copyright in one of the cables, and the fact that IPR is a common acronym for intellectual property rights).
Assuming KIPR is indeed the tag for intellectual property, there are 65 cables originating in Canada (almost all from the U.S. embassy in Ottawa) that address the issue. Overall, there are a large number of IP-related cables, with approximately 2500 including the KIPR tag. Moreover, 84 of the cables include the WIPO tag.
The cable release could provide new insight into the influence and pressures by the U.S. on Canada and other countries on intellectual property policy. Several politicians have already described Bill C-32 as a bill designed with the U.S. in mind and as the cables become public, the behind-the-scenes pressures on the issues may come further to light.
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