The intellectual property chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement has been the subject of plentiful discussion for the past few weeks. This trade treaty includes intellectual property proposals that were released last month by WikiLeaks. In the normal course of events, the details of such an agreement would be discussed in secrecy until the agreement was signed, according to PC World. However, the whistle-blower website disclosed these details and sparked a lot of discussion in the international relations and intellectual property spheres.

The latest development in the TPP saga is one of missed deadlines. The negotiators failed to meet their year-end deadline, according to PC World, and the 12 countries involved will meet next month to resume talks, according to a statement from the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

According to the statement, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Vietnam and the U.S. made "substantial progress" on the agreement yesterday. However, according to the WikiLeaks document, many countries are against several provisions in the agreement, particularly those about intellectual property.

One of the provisions that is widely opposed is granting copyright protection for 70 years after the death of an author. A letter to the TPP negotiators, signed by 29 organizations and over 70 people, spoke out against this provision recently. A point of controversy in the intellectual property law world is that the new copyright terms would simply take effect in all signatory countries rather than each country individually deciding its own position on the issue.