It’s called the “anti-counterfeiting trade agreement” or ACTA.
It ostensibly arose (Ars Technica’s version) from a desire of the European Union to move forward in creating agreements with the major trading partners concerning a wide variety of goods and services in danger of being counterfeited. This could include, for example, fake pharmaceuticals and car parts, uncertified airplane parts (it’s possible that bogus airplane parts may have been involved in the recent crash of a Russian jet), substituted commercial chemicals, imitation infant formula, faux designer goods, and counterfeit DVDs and CDs.
Another version (the Wikileaks edition) says that the ACTA push was actually launched in October, 2007 by US Ambassador Susan Schwab in a meeting with interested intellectual rights holders from several industries and five members of Congress. These were Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA), Rep. Horward Berman (D-CA), Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R_VA), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
Reporting on this, Wikileaks said, “Who is really behind ACTA? Follow the money.”
Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA)
- Top four campaign contributors for 2006: Time Warner ($21,000), News Corp ($15,000), Sony Corp. of America ($14,000), and Walt Disney Co. ($13,550).
- Top two Industries: TV/Movies/Music $181,050, Lawyers/Law Firms $114,200.
So, that’s two views of how the ACTA came to be. Signers-on for ACTA now include the EU, US, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and New Zealand, among others.
Here’s an interesting excerpt from their FAQ page.
Q: Is this really about ganging up on China and other countries that are not part of the group?
A: No. ACTA is not intended to isolate countries or point the finger at their enforcement efforts. The countries involved in this initiative share a particular vision of a path to stronger enforcement to deal with the challenges of piracy and counterfeiting today. This is an inclusive vision which we hope that more countries will embrace when they feel the time is right.
According to ACTA, piracy and counterfeiting today pose “an ever-increasing threat to the sustainable development of the world economy.” They estimate the international trade of counterfeited objects to equal $200 billion – a number higher, they point out, than the Gross Domestic Product of 150 countries and 2% of all world trade.
A draft of the agreement has yet to be published and may not actually exist yet.
The ACTA is to be “locked” when finished. In other words, after the existing members, the more powerful countries that own most of the content and physical industries affected by counterfeiting and piracy, get through thrashing out the text, smaller countries won’t be able to alter the agreement. It’ll be “take it or leave it.”
As IP Justice puts it: “After the multi-lateral treaty’s scope and priorities are negotiated by the few countries invited to participate in the early discussions, ACTA’s text will be ‘locked’ and other countries who are later ‘invited’ to sign-on to the pact will not be able to re-negotiate its terms. It is claimed that signing-on to the trade agreement will be ‘voluntary,’ but few countries will have the muscle to refuse an ‘invitation’ to join, once the rules have been set by the select few conducting the negotiations.”
Some provisions of ACTA are leaking out. RTI.ie, an Irish website, said in May 2008: “. . . the treaty suggests that customs officers should be given the right to search laptops and media players for pirated material. Such officers would be able to confiscate and destroy anything they believe to be pirated, fine the owner, and confiscate the equipment.”
US policy, by the way, has already given US Customs the power to search and seize without a warrant and without any probable cause any laptop coming in from an international flight. After a US Ninth Circuit confirmation of the legality of these unwarranted searches, US Customs decided that they could extend this logic to other personal devices that can contain data, including smart phones and MP3 players. They are not looking for your backed-up DVD-R of “Enter the Dragon” or bootleg MP3 of “I Kissed a Girl” yet, but ACTA could possibly place them in this role, too.
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) has introduced into the House a bill that will add some common-sense provisions to these border searches. If enacted, it will say hands-off to information involving attorney-client, physician-patient, and commercial communications that contain corporate trade secrets. It’s sad that a new rule is needed at all, but there’s also a provision that any border agent seizing a laptop must give the individual a receipt for it.
Next: ACTA Leaks, RIAA Wishlist, Pro-IP Act