New Zealand intellectual property and internet lawyer Rick Shera suggests prospective US and Japanese participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade agreement, could signal Round Two of attempts to secure for these countries what the watered-down ACTA has yet to achieve.

TPP was given a high profile by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in New Zealand this week.

Present members of TPP are New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei and Chile, all comparatively small and open economies.

"The concern is, having had to water down ACTA under pressure from the European Union, US and allied interests will use TPP to get what they originally wanted by a different route and without having to worry about those pesky Europeans," Shera says.

"In this light it is revealing to see that Japan, an ardent supporter of maximalist intellectual-property protection alongside the US, is now considering joining TPP."