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Digital Top Stories
ACTA draft published
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 22 April 2010
A draft of the previously reported Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has been made public following criticism that negotiations relating to the intellectual property treaty were being held in secret.
European Union officials, who are part of the negotiations, had called for a draft to be released, mainly to counter various rumours that had been circulating regarding more hardline proposals that were said to be under consideration. In particular, there had been speculation that the ACTA might bring in three-strikes style anti-piracy systems via the back door (in those countries where such systems are not already in development). That speculation continued despite EU types denying three-strikes was part of the talks, and despite a leak of the draft Agreement showing that was so.
The officially released draft also confirmed three-strikes is not part of the ACTA, though it does allow for countries who sign up to the treaty to introduce such systems for combating file-sharing if they wish to. But the Agreement is more about making it easier for copyright owners to take civil action in the courts of signatory countries to protect their IP rights, and ensuring that those countries with copyright laws written pre-internet clarify the liabilities of web-users who file-share. There is also some talk about systems whereby copyright owners can force websites to take down infringing content via injunction, and about the liabilities (or not) of internet service providers for the infringement conducted by their customers via their servers.
Many have pointed out that a lot of the ACTA’s draft provisions are clearly based on America’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was one of the first bits of copyright legislation to take internet-related issues into consideration. Because of this, some see the whole Treaty as an effort by the US to force its copyright systems on the rest of the world, even though America has often been a reluctant participant in past global copyright treaties. Though others would argue the DMCA is the most developed bit of internet-focused copyright legislation, so it makes sense to take it as a starting point for the Agreement.
Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Morocco and the European Union are all involved in the ACTA talks, which will resume in June.
