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EC's ACTA Negotiator Devigne: Rejected U.S. "Blackmail"

By Michael Geist

Luc Devigne, the European Commission's lead ACTA negotiator, recently appeared before the International Trade Committee which brought together Members of the European Parliament and ACTA negotiators.  Sources say Devigne revealed several key things:

• the release of the draft ACTA text may be a one-time deal. There are no current plans to release the updated text following future rounds of talks.
• Devigne reportedly told the MEPs that the EC successfully rejected U.S. "blackmail", a reference to U.S. demands for changes on the scope of ACTA in return for greater transparency. The U.S. ultimately agreed to the release of the text, while the scope issue remains unresolved.
• There is still no agreement on the ISP safe harbour provisions.
• Major disagreements in the criminal chapter include the definition of "commercial scale" (the U.S. wants it defined, the EU wants it left to national judges) and the inclusion of an anti-camcording provision. 
• Disagreements on the civil enforcement chapter includes damages and scope.

Full post as published by Michael Geist on May 12, 2010 (boomark / email).