Tech Industry cheers CAFTA

By Priya Ganapati
U.S. Senate approval of Central American trade pact heartens Microsoft and a key tech trade group.
July 1, 2005

Microsoft and a key technology trade group Friday applauded the U.S. Senate’s approval of the Central America Free Trade Agreement, as the pact could better protect the software giant and other tech firms from software piracy and intellectual property infringement in the region.

On Thursday, the Senate voted 54 to 45 to approve the pact, which would eliminate tariffs among the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Microsoft and the Information Technology Industry Council had both lobbied heavily for the bill, which includes a commitment to intellectual property rights.

“It is particularly important for Microsoft and other U.S. technology companies that CAFTA and other free-trade agreements negotiated by the U.S. mandate strong intellectual property protections and fair treatments for products delivered online,” said Jack Krumholtz, Microsoft’s managing director for federal government affairs at Microsoft.

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