Tournament: Mid America Cup | Round: 2 | Opponent: Proof DR | Judge: Chris Theis
1AC
1
Advantage 1 is Whistleblowing
European trade secrets protections chill whistleblowing – that undermines public health and drug efficacy
HAI et al 14 — (Health Action International and a coalition of other NGOs, HAI works to expand health access in Europe, “EU trade secrets directive threat to health, environment, free speech and worker mobility”, 12-17-14, Available Online at https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/attachments/statement_-_eu_trade_secrets_directive_needs_amendments.pdf, accessed 9-8-21, HKR-AM)
AMSTERDAM—We strongly oppose the hasty push by the European Commission and Council for
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disseminate information should be the rule, and trade secret protection the exception.
Current law places the burden of proof on whistleblowers, which reinforces legal uncertainty – empirics prove a lack of accountability for corporations.
Moody 16 — (Glyn Moody, Contributing Policy Editor at Ars Technica. He has been writing about the Internet, free software, copyright, patents and digital rights for over 20 years., “New EU trade secrets law could jail whistleblowers, block drug trial data access”, Ars Technica, 4-14-16, Available Online at https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/new-eu-trade-secrets-law-whistleblowers-journalists-drug-trials/, accessed 8-27-21, HKR-AM)
However, the Pirate Party MEP, Julia Reda, believes the new rules will
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trial, "citing French laws that protect the release of trade secrets."
This burden structure makes intimidation lawsuits inevitable, further deterring whistleblowing.
CEO 17 — (Corporate Europe Observatory, non-profit research and campaign group whose declared aim is to "expose any effects of corporate lobbying on EU policy making"., “Adapting the EU Directive on Trade Secrets ‘Protection’ into National Law”, February 2017, Available Online at https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/attachments/trade_secrets_protection_directive_-_a_transposition_briefing.pdf, accessed 9-9-21, HKR-AM)
Indeed, whistleblowers denounce wrongdoing, either by using internal reporting mechanisms set up by
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in countries where legal protection for media sources is weak or even absent.
Effective protections for European medical whistleblowers are crucial to strengthening public health and preventing pandemics – COVID was the test run
Dreyfus and Galizzi 20 — (Suelette Dreyfus, PhD, Researcher at the University of Melbourne, and Bruno Galizzi, part of the Blueprint for Free Speech Spain, “Protect whistleblowers, protect everyone's health”, 5-19-20, Blueprint for Free Speech, Available Online at https://www.blueprintforfreespeech.net/en/news/protect-whistleblowers-protect-everyones-health, accessed 9-8-21, HKR-AM)
The worldwide spread of coronavirus has highlighted the importance of whistleblowers like never before.
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operation of the institutions, in defense of our fundamental and human rights.
New diseases cause extinction – uniquely probable due to environmental changes.
Mooney 21 — (Tom Mooney, Senior Communications and Advocacy Manager for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, “Preparing for the next “Disease X””, CEPI, 2-1-21, Available Online at https://cepi.net/news_cepi/preparing-for-the-next-disease-x/, accessed 9-10-21, HKR-AM)
Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international pandemic could be caused by a
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, we could credibly aim to eliminate the risk of epidemics and pandemics.
2
Advantage 2 is Uniformity
EU trade secret regulations are fragmented – lack of clear standards on protection across countries undermine businesses. Uniform trade secret legislation is key – single state exceptions doom growth.
Junge 16 — (Fabian Junge, Law @ Maastricht University, “THE NECESSITY OF EUROPEAN HARMONIZATION IN THE AREA OF TRADE SECRETS”, MAASTRICHT EUROPEAN PRIVATE LAW INSTITUTE WORKING PAPER No. 2016/04, Available Online at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2839693, accessed 9-8-21, HKR-AM)
The EU and its Member States with their far-reaching economic, political and
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the EU’s and its Member States’ capacity for an effective enforcement mechanism.97
European consistency in trade secret whistleblowing laws is key – current legal vagueness create uncertainty for whistleblowers and businesses
Junge 16 — (Fabian Junge, Law @ Maastricht University, “THE NECESSITY OF EUROPEAN HARMONIZATION IN THE AREA OF TRADE SECRETS”, MAASTRICHT EUROPEAN PRIVATE LAW INSTITUTE WORKING PAPER No. 2016/04, Available Online at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2839693, accessed 8-27-21, HKR-AM)
Art. 5 (b) in conjunction with Recital 20 Trade Secrets Directive embodies
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of national laws and to the aims targeted by the Trade Secrets Directive.
The status quo’s minimum harmonization approach is unsustainable – only the plan’s universal and maximal mandate solves
Junge 16 — (Fabian Junge, Law @ Maastricht University, “THE NECESSITY OF EUROPEAN HARMONIZATION IN THE AREA OF TRADE SECRETS”, MAASTRICHT EUROPEAN PRIVATE LAW INSTITUTE WORKING PAPER No. 2016/04, Available Online at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2839693, accessed 9-8-21, HKR-AM)
Notwithstanding the fact that harmonization can be beneficial even when only achieving a minimum common
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the Trade Secrets Directive even more, but might have been politically unenforceable.
Increased cohesion is key to augmenting EU leadership during future pandemics.
Veron and Di Ciommo 20 – Veron, Pauline, and Di Ciommo, Mariella, October 2020 – “The EU’s Role in Global Health in the Era of COVID-19,” The European Centre for Development Policy Management, Pauline Veron is a Junior Policy Officer for the European External Affairs programme (75) and Migration programme (25). She has an undergraduate degree in Political Science Science Po Strasbourg with time at Trinity College Dublin, and a Masters in Public Administration and another in International Relations and Regional Integration Process also from Science Po Strasbourg. Mariella Di Ciommo is a Policy Officer in the European External Affairs programme. Before joining ECDPM she worked in different roles at Development Initiatives in the UK and then in Brazil. In Brazil, as a Strategic Partnerships Manager, she led DI’s work on data for development at country level and international engagement on South-South cooperation, climate finance and poverty. She holds a master in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics and one in Economics from Bocconi University. Harker KB
The COVID-19 pandemic is a real test for the EU’s international leadership ambitions
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health. It will require action at country, regional and global level.
Independently, whistleblowing protections are key to preserving market dynamics and increasing investment.
Abazi 16 — (Vigjilenca Abazi, Assistant Professor @ Maastricht University, “Trade Secrets and Whistleblower Protection in the European Union”, European Papers, Vol. 1, 2016, No 3, European Forum, Insight of 3 September 2016, pp. 1061-1072, Available Online at https://www.europeanpapers.eu/en/europeanforum/trade-secrets-and-whistleblower-protection-in-the-eu, accessed 9-9-21, HKR-AM)
Whistleblowing is a compound and complex instrument bringing together elements of accountability, freedom of
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the Commission would propose a legislative act on whistleblower protection in the EU.
European economic decline causes multiple scenarios for global war
Wright 12 Thomas Wright, fellow with the Managing Global Order at the Brookings Institution. What if Europe Fails? 2012. http://csis.org/files/publication/twq12SummerWright.pdf
Yet, verbal warnings from nervous leaders and economists aside, there has been remarkably
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crisis that could have been avoided had better decisions been taken earlier on.
Solvency
Plan Text: The member states of the European Union ought to reduce trade secret protections for medicines by requiring that plaintiffs prove that the acquisition, use, and disclosure of the trade secret did not pertain to revealing misconduct, wrongdoing, or illegal activity, or to protecting the general public interest.
The plan shifts the burden of proof from whistleblowers to companies.
Abazi 16 — (Vigjilenca Abazi, Assistant Professor @ Maastricht University, “Trade Secrets and Whistleblower Protection in the European Union”, European Papers, Vol. 1, 2016, No 3, European Forum, Insight of 3 September 2016, pp. 1061-1072, Available Online at https://www.europeanpapers.eu/en/europeanforum/trade-secrets-and-whistleblower-protection-in-the-eu, accessed 9-9-21, HKR-AM)
The most disconcerting aspect of Art. 5, let. b), is that
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legal context of (the missing) whistleblower protection in EU Member States.
That expands the whistleblowing exception to trade secret protections by restricting employer discretion, which reduces the extent of trade secret protections.
Vandekerckhove 21 — (Wim Vandekerckhove, Professor of Business Ethics @ University of Greenwich and co-Director of the Centre for Research in Employment and Work, Phd in Applied Ethics from Ghent University, “Is It Freedom? The Coming About of the EU Directive on Whistleblower Protection”, Journal of Business Ethics (2021), Available Online at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-021-04771-x, accessed 9-10-21, HKR-AM)
It is clear—albeit not explicit—that Art 5 (b) relates
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context of (the missing) whistleblower protection in EU Member States.’
Framework
The standard is maximizing expected well-being
1 Util is a lexical pre-requisite to any other framework: Threats to bodily security and life preclude the ability for moral actors to effectively utilize and act upon other moral theories since they are in a constant state of crisis that inhibit the ideal moral conditions which other theories presuppose – so, util comes first and my offense outweighs theirs under their own framework.
2 actor-specificity: side constraints freeze action because government policies always require trade-offs—the only justifiable way to resolve those conflicts is by benefiting everyone. Actor-specificity comes first because different agents have different ethical obligations.
3 No intent-foresight distinction—if we foresee a consequence, then it becomes part of our deliberation which makes it intrinsic to our action since we intend it to happen.
4 Only consequentialism explains degrees of wrongness—if I break a promise to meet up for lunch, that is not as bad as breaking a promise to take a dying person to the hospital. Only the consequences of breaking the promise explain why the second one is much worse than the first. Intuitions outweigh—they’re the foundational basis for any argument and theories that contradict our intuitions are most likely false even if we can’t deductively determine why.
5 Reject calc indicts and util triggers permissibility arguments:
A Empirically denied—both individuals and policymakers carry out effective cost-benefit analysis which means even if decisions aren’t always perfect it’s still better than not acting at all
B Theory—they’re functionally NIBs that everyone knows are silly but skew the aff and move the debate away from the topic and actual philosophical debate, killing valuable education
6 extinction o/ws under any framework- moral uncertainty and future gens
Pummer 15 — (Theron Pummer, Junior Research Fellow in Philosophy at St. Anne's College, University of Oxford, “Moral Agreement on Saving the World“, Practical Ethics University of Oxford, 5-18-2015, Available Online at http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2015/05/moral-agreement-on-saving-the-world/, accessed 7-2-2018, HKR-AM) we do not endorse ableist language=
There appears to be lot of disagreement in moral philosophy. Whether these many apparent
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be acting very wrongly.” (From chapter 36 of On What Matters)