Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future events.
It may contain tentative information; the content may change as the event approaches and more information becomes available.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a proposed plurilateral trade agreement that would impose strict enforcement of intellectual property rights related to Internet activity and trade in information-based goods. The agreement is being secretly negotiated by the governments of the United States, the European Commission, Japan, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Canada, and Mexico.[1][2] If adopted at the 34th G8 summit in July 2008, the treaty would establish an international coalition against copyright infringement, imposing a strong, top-down enforcement regime of copyright laws in developed nations. The proposed agreement would allow border officials to search laptops, MP3 players, and cellular phones for copyright-infringing content. It would also impose new cooperation requirements upon internet service providers (ISPs), including perfunctory disclosure of customer information, and restrict the use of online privacy tools. The proposal specifies a plan to encourage developing nations to accept the legal regime.

The European Commission, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and other government agencies have acknowledged participating in ACTA negotiations, but they have refused to release drafts of the treaty or to discuss specific terms under discussion in the negotiations. Public interest advocates in Canada filed an access to information request but received only a document stating the title of the agreement, with everything else blacked out.[2] On May 22, 2008, a discussion paper about the proposed agreement was uploaded to Wikileaks, and newspaper reports about the secret negotiations quickly followed.[3][4][2][5]

ACTA is part of a broader "forum shifting" strategy employed by the trade representatives of the U.S., E.C., Japan, and other supporters of rigid intellectual property enforcement: similar terms and provisions currently appear in the World Customs Organization draft SECURE treaty.[6]

Contents

[edit] Provisions

[edit] Border searches

Newspaper reports indicate that the proposed agreement would empower security officials at airports and other international borders to conduct random searches of laptops, MP3 players, and cellular phones for illegally downloaded or "ripped" music and movies. Travelers with infringing content would be subject to a fine and may have their devices confiscated or destroyed.[2][5]

[edit] ISP cooperation

The leaked document includes a provision to force internet service providers to provide information about suspected copyright infringers without a warrant, making it easier for the record industry to sue music file sharers and for officials to shut down non-commercial BitTorrent websites such as The Pirate Bay.[7]

[edit] Enforcement

ACTA would create its own governing body outside existing international institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or the United Nations.[2][8]

[edit] Interpretation

It has been argued[9] that the main thrust of ACTA is to provide safe harbor for service providers so that they may not hesitate to provide information about infringers; this may be used, for instance, to quickly identify and stop infringers once their identities are confirmed by their providers.

Similarly, it provides for criminalization of copyright infringement, granting law enforcement the powers to perform criminal investigation, arrests and pursue criminal citations or prosecution of suspects who may have infringed on copyright.

More pressingly, being an international treaty, it allows for these provisions—usually administered through public legislation and subject to judiciary oversight—to be pushed through via closed negotiations among members of the executive bodies of the signatories, and once it is ratified, using trade incentives and the like to persuade other nations to adopt its terms without much scope for negotiation.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Geiger, Andrea. "A View From Europe: The high price of counterfeiting, and getting real about enforcement", The Hill, 2008-04-30. Retrieved on 2008-05-27. 
  2. ^ a b c d e Pilieci, Vito. "Copyright deal could toughen rules governing info on iPods, computers", Vancouver Sun, 2008-05-26. Retrieved on 2008-05-27. 
  3. ^ Proposed US ACTA multi-lateral intellectual property trade agreement (2007). Wikileaks (May 22, 2008).
  4. ^ Jason Mick (May 23, 2008). Wikileaks Airs U.S. Plans to Kill Pirate Bay, Monitor ISPs With Multinational ACTA Proposal. DailyTech.
  5. ^ a b Weeks, Carly. "Anti-piracy strategy will help government to spy, critic says", The Globe and Mail, 2008-05-26. Retrieved on 2008-05-27. 
  6. ^ SECURE Draft (Feb. 2008). World Customs Organization (WCO) (February 2008).
  7. ^ Ingram, Matthew. "Do we need copyright cops?", Ingram 2.0, Globe and Mail, 2008-05-26. Retrieved on 2008-05-27. 
  8. ^ Fact Sheet: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. European Commission (2007-10-23). Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
  9. ^ Anderson, Nate (2008-06-02). The real ACTA threat (it's not iPod-scanning border guards). Ars Technica. Retrieved on 2008-06-14.
Languages