ACTA

Law Professors Ask Senate to Take Up ACTA, Challenging ACTA Constitutionality (Again): The Context

May 16, 2012 By Sean Flynn Leave a Comment

Today, a group of nearly 50 U.S. legal scholars sent an open letter to the Members of the Senate Finance Committee asking them to “exercise your constitutional responsibility to ensure that the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is submitted to [Congress].” This note explains the legal and political context for the letter, including the mounting barriers to ACTA ever going into force as a binding international treaty.

[PRESS RELEASE: Law Professors Declare Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Unconstitutional Without Congressional Approval]

The letter is the latest in a long series of exchanges between law professors, Senators and the Administration on the validity of the administration’s Constitutional claim that it can ratify the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement without the Congressional approval that normally accompanies any binding international trade agreement.

Filed Under: ACTA, News, Trade Agreements Tagged With: ACTA

ACTA-As-Counterproposal at TPP Negotiations; News from Dallas Round

May 14, 2012 By Mike Palmedo Leave a Comment

The 12^th round of Trans Pacific Partnership talks are underway in Dallas. Negotiators are covering intellectual property topics including enforcement and patents. As reported by Inside U.S. Trade, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore have proposed replacing some elements of the US proposal on IP enforcement with ACTA language. The US proposal for IP enforcement in the TPP goes beyond ACTA in a number of ways. Under the US proposal, an infringement carried out without regard to financial gain may be still considered “commercial scale” – and therefore subject to criminal penalties. The US TPP proposals also requires penalties to be applied in certain cases where infringements are not carried out “willfully.” For a good analysis of the differences between TPP and ACTA, see former PIJIP fellow Carrie Sager’s table comparing the two).

Filed Under: ACTA, TPP Tagged With: ACTA, timeline, TPP

Kirk Responds to TPP Transparency Demands

May 10, 2012 By Sean Flynn 2 Comments

Yesterday, we sent a letter to United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk, signed by over 30 legal scholars, criticizing the decision to cancel full day stakeholder presentations for the current round of negotiations being held in Dallas, Texas, and calling on the administration to “reverse course” and work to expand participation and transparency in the negotiation. The letter specifically called for Kirk to work to give the general public the same rights to see US proposals in the negotiation as cleared corporate advisers now have. The letter received an immediate response from the Ambassador, which we reprint below with a brief response from us.

Filed Under: ACTA, Blog, News, TPP, Trade Agreements

EP Committee on International Trade to Vote on Opinion on ACTA

May 7, 2012 By Mike Palmedo Leave a Comment

Next week, the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade will vote on its draft legal opinion on ACTA. The legal opinion states that the “Commission has ensured that ACTA provisions comply with the Union acquis and that nothing in ACTA contradicts the obligations between parties under existing agreements, including the TRIPS Agreement;” and that “ACTA will not serve as a basis to interfere with access to medicine and, in particular with trade in generic medicines.” It recommends that Parliament give its consent to the agreement.

Filed Under: ACTA, Blog Tagged With: EU

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and Criminal Enforcement of Intellectual Property: What Consequences for the European Union?

April 26, 2012 By Christophe Geiger Leave a Comment

Abstract: The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and the secrecy of its negotiation process have given rise to widespread speculation on the content and the objectives of the Agreement, leading to the development of considerable mistrust among the general public. This article concentrates on one of the most problematic aspects of the Agreement: the provisions on criminal enforcement. It will first show why criminal enforcement of intellectual property is generally a problematic issue, especially in the European Union, and then briefly try to demonstrate why ACTA is not the right answer in this regard, since criminal enforcement provisions clearly need a differentiated approach, an approach which is not reflected in the Agreement.

Click here for the full paper.

Filed Under: ACTA, Trade Agreements Tagged With: Academic, EU

Legal Affairs Committee to Vote on ACTA This Week

April 23, 2012 By Mike Palmedo Leave a Comment

The European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee will its rapporteur’s draft opinion on ACTA this Wednesday, and will vote on Thursday whether or not to recommend that Parliament give its consent to the Agreement. FFII has written a letter to the members of the Committee, warning that “ACTA’s civil, border and criminal provisions themselves are often disproportional and go beyond current EU law. These provisions lack precise limitations and conflict with the general safeguards. The conflicts will have to be resolved during implementation.” FFII asks the committee to propose that Parliament withhold its consent to ACTA.

Filed Under: ACTA Tagged With: David Martin, EU

Video Summary of Last Week’s ACTA Stakeholder Hearing

April 20, 2012 By REPOST Leave a Comment

Video posted to YouTube by MEP Marietje Schaake:

Filed Under: ACTA

EU Rapporteur for ACTA to Recommend Rejection of the Agreement

April 12, 2012 By Mike Palmedo Leave a Comment

Yesterday, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the EU Parliament held a public debate on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. At the debate, the EU’s Rapporteur for ACTA, MEP David Martin announced that he will recommend that Parliament vote to reject the agreement.

In a press release, Martin said: “Today’s conference has confirmed my suspicion that ACTA raises more fears than hopes. What it delivers in terms of important intellectual property rights is diminished by potential threats to civil liberties and internet freedom. When the European Parliament rejects ACTA, the Commission must work to find other ways to defend European intellectual property in the global marketplace.”

Filed Under: ACTA Tagged With: EU, Martin

NAFTA statement on ACTA and TPP

April 3, 2012 By REPOST Leave a Comment

by Geraldine Jaurez

Yesterday there was a meeting of the NAFTA group, which put out this joint statement.

Excerpt on ACTA:

As leading sources of innovation and creativity, our three countries are committed to the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR). We commit to promote sound enforcement practices and an effective legal framework for IPR enforcement in the areas of criminal enforcement, enforcement at the border, civil and administrative actions, and distribution of IPR infringing material on the Internet consistent with the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which the United States and Canada have recently signed. Mexico will continue to work on a comprehensive reform to its legal system to achieve the high standards pursued under ACTA.

Filed Under: ACTA, TPP Tagged With: Canada, Mexico

European Parliament Votes Against ECJ Legal Review of ACTA

March 28, 2012 By Mike Palmedo Leave a Comment

On March 27, the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee (INTA) voted 21-5 to reject a request by MEP David Martin to refer the Anticounterfeiting Trade Agreement to the European Court of Justice. Martin wanted the Court to determine whether or not the agreement conflicts with EU law. The INTA will instead conduct its own ACTA review, and the full Parliament will vote on ACTA ratification in July.

Many opponents of the agreement applaud the move.

Filed Under: ACTA Tagged With: EU

TPP vs. ACTA – Line by Line

March 27, 2012 By Carrie Ellen Sager 2 Comments

As the TPP heads for its next intersessional meeting on IP provisions in April, public concern about the agreement has been growing, often tied to the previous public outcry over SOPA/PIPA and ACTA. The enforcement provisions in the IP section of the TPP have been described as “ACTA-plus,” but to what extent is the TPP an ACTA clone? And how far beyond ACTA does the TPP go? To answer these questions, PIJIP asked me to prepare a comprehensive comparison of the copyright enforcement provisions in the U.S. proposal for an TPP Chapter on IP with those in ACTA.

Filed Under: ACTA, TPP Tagged With: Academic

Civil Society Statements and Letters to EU Parliament, Re: ACTA

March 26, 2012 By Mike Palmedo Leave a Comment

Today, the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs held a debate on ACTA [Webcast]. Tomorrow, the debate will move to the Committee on International Trade [Webcast].