The latest draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, released by WikiLeaks, is a literal Mickey Mouse agreement, writes Dr Matthew Rimmer, associate professor at ANU college of law. Halloween has come early this year, with WikiLeaks’ release of the latest version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. With a customary flourish, Julian Assange released the text, commenting: “The selective secrecy surrounding the TPP negotiations, which has let in a few cashed-up megacorps but excluded everyone else, reveals a telling fear of public scrutiny. By publishing this text we allow the public to engage in issues that will have such a fundamental impact on their lives.” The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was considered dead and buried. The deal contained intellectual property enforcement measures to address copyright piracy, trademark counterfeiting and border measures. After civil and political protests in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia, ACTA collapsed, under the weight of criticism. But like an undead zombie, much of ACTA has been revived in the intellectual property chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The United States Trade Representative has been engaged in policy laundering — transposing policy proposals and ideas from ACTA to the TPP. The Intellectual Property Chapter of the TPP is much more extensive than the TRIPS Agreement in the World Trade Organization, or the intellectual property chapters in TRIPS+ agreements like the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. Summarising the chapter, James Love from Knowledge Ecology International has commented: “The May 16, 2014 version of the consolidated negotiating text for the Intellectual Property Chapter for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement is a long, complex document that taken as a whole is designed to expand and extend monopolies on knowledge goods, including in particular publisher-owned copyrights, patents on inventions, and monopoly rights in data used to register new drugs, vaccines and agricultural chemical products.” The leaked text reveals a battle for the heart and soul of intellectual property. The United States and Japan have been pushing for longer and stronger intellectual property rights. Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Brunei, Vietnam, and Malaysia have pushed back, arguing for a recognition of intellectual property serving public policy objectives, such as the promotion of public health, access to knowledge, and competition.