ACTA negotiations are still ongoing

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a proposed treaty that would significantly increase anti-piracy enforcement powers. The sweeping changes contained in the treaty are currently being discussed in a series of secret meetings between the United States, the European Community, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Canada. The Act was previously unknown until a draft unintentionally began surfacing at media outlets in May of 2008. The European Commission indicates that three rounds of negotiations have already taken place, and the fourth round was to start in mid-December.

From the information that has leaked, it seems that the ambitious goal of ACTA is to create a new international legal framework outside of the authority of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and even the United Nations. The premise is that the existing enforcement standard in the TRIPS Agreement has largely failed to prevent counterfeiting and international piracy. By increasing the penalties for not just the piracy of CDs, but for information distributed over the internet, the parties hope to discourage existing international piracy operations. The most controversial issue raised by the Act is a provision that forces ISP holders to divulge information regarding an alleged copyright infringer without a warrant. In this respect, the treaty is simply an extension of the Patriot Act.

The European Commission indicates that a final version of ACTA should be completed early in 2009. However, adoption of the treaty by the United States is far from likely. Several rights groups vehemently oppose the treaty claiming it violates privacy rights. This will likely be a big issue in 2009.