Intellectual Property Law

Act on ACTA: Tell the New Congress to Open the Secret IP Pact

By danny

Despite the new administration's policy of openness, the Anti-Counterfeiting Copyright Agreement (ACTA) still remains shrouded in secrecy. But language leaked from the negotiations reveal that it will cover far more than just commercial piracy and fake consumer goods and medicines.

ACTA is currently being negotiated between the US, Europe and other states including Australia, Korea and Singapore. It reaches a fifth round of deliberations in Morocco next month. Some expect the document to be ready for signing by then. But even though the process has taken over a year to reach this stage, the entire negotiation has been kept secret from the public.

But some information has unofficially emerged from the closed meetings. Draft language indicates provisions that will include mandated disclosure of personal information in alleged IP disputes, a new global requirement that "commercial scale" piracy will also capture copies made without profit motive (that would include those made with fair use), and new powers to place injunctions on patent, trademark, and copyright violations with lowered standards of proof and limited due process. Much of the language is reminiscent of entertainment industry demands -- and nowhere in the draft is there mention of the rights of individual consumers and the IP balance driving innovation in the knowledge economy.

Most disturbing of all, an entire section of the treaty is devoted to "rights management technology/the Internet", suggesting that both negotiators and lobbyists are choosing to ignore the failure of DRM in the market, and the complex dangers of regulating the Internet across jurisdictions to match the demands of rightsholders.

All of these radical changes are taking place behind closed doors. Of over 1300 pages of ACTA background documents requested by EFF in a Freedom of Information Act request last year, only 159 were released to the public by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). EFF and Public Knowledge are currently involved in a pending Federal lawsuit to obtain more information.

The Obama Administration and Congress can and should do more. At a time when the competitiveness of the US economy is at stake, open debate about real changes to global technology policy is too important to ignore. Instead of the public relying on lawsuits and leaked documents, Congress can tell the USTR to open up the ACTA process to true oversight and deliberation — or abandon it for better methods of managing co-operation against commercial counterfeiting.

ACTA has been compromised by secrecy and privileged access for industry lobbyists. Tell Congress to open it up, or find an alternative.

Full post as published by Electronic Freedom Foundation - Deep Links on February 04, 2009 (boomark / email).