Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Intellectual Property Law Blogs -> IP Justice

Intellectual Property Law

: IP Justice

Public Left Out of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Talks (Toronto Star)

By Robin Gross

"According to documents obtained under the Access to Information Act and reported here for the first time, the [Canadian] government has been crafting an Intellectual Property and Trade Advisory Group. The initial plans for membership in the group were limited exclusively to 12 government departments and 14 industry lobby groups. These include the Canadian Recording Industry Association, the Canadian Motion Picture and Distributors Association, and the Entertainment Software Association of Canada. The early membership lists omit several key industry representatives likely to be affected by ACTA, including telecommunications, technology, and Internet companies. Moreover, there is absolutely no representation of the public interest ? no privacy representation despite the obvious privacy implications of the treaty (the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada was not included on the government invitee list), no consumer representation despite the effects on consumer interests, and no civil liberties representation on a treaty that could fundamentally alter Canadian civil rights...."

Full post as published by IP Justice on July 28, 2008 (boomark / email).