[A2k] M. Geist: Is ACTA the New WIPO?

[Manon Ress]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Thanks to P. Aigrain for pointing to this.

Is ACTA the New WIPO?
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2318/125/

Wednesday October 24, 2007

It has been readily apparent for a number of months now that
"counterfeiting and piracy" is the new focal point for intellectual
property policy reform.  With global conferences, legislative
hearings in national capitals, and new anti-counterfeiting
coalitions, copyright lobby groups have jumped on the anti-
counterfeiting bandwagon.  While the claims regularly focus on health
and safety risks or suggestions that organized crime or terrorist
groups benefit from counterfeiting, the reality is that the policy
prescription typically includes a range of issues that have little to
do with those issues.  These include anti-circumvention legislation,
higher damages, and an increased use of public tax dollars to provide
protection for private commercial interests.

The strategy has proven remarkably effective.  Despite the absence of
any independent data (indeed, there is evidence that some numbers
have been fabricated), politicians are easily convinced that action
is needed since the lobbyists often come armed with compelling props
(exploded batteries, unsafe toys) and no one actually supports
counterfeiting.  Of course, the issue is not whether you are for or
against counterfeiting, but rather whether the proposed reforms have
anything to do with health and safety or significant economic concerns.

Having placed counterfeiting on both domestic (see the recent
government response and attempts to create an IP caucus) and bi-
lateral agendas (including the SPP and the G8), yesterday the U.S.
unveiled an even more ambitious goal - a new international Anti-
Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

Given the recent backlash at WIPO, the U.S. is avoiding the U.N.
system.  Instead, it has created a new counterfeiting coalition of
the willing that includes the European Union, Japan, South Korea,
Mexico, New Zealand, and Canada.  Those countries yesterday
simultaneously announced enthusiastic support for a new trade
agreement with negotiations to begin next year.  Indeed,
International Trade Minister David Emerson's announcement to the
House of Commons brought the MPs to their feet.

This treaty could ultimately prove bigger than WIPO - without the
constraints of consensus building, developing countries, and civil
society groups, the ACTA could further reshape the IP landscape with
tougher enforcement, stronger penalties, and a gradual eradication of
the copyright and trademark balance.


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Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@keionline.org,

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Il vaut mieux remuer une question, sans la d=E9cider, que la d=E9cider,
sans la remuer.
Pens=E9es, essais, maximes et correspondance de J. Joubert  p.249
http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=3DGallica&O=3DNUMM-88671
Translation: It is better to debate a question without settling it
than to settle a question without debating it