[Infowarrior] - Global Son of DMCA in the works?

[Richard Forno]

(See Wikileaks for the proposed treaty -- https://secure.wikileaks.org/wiki/Proposed_US_ACTA_multi-lateral_intellectual_property_trade_agreement_(2007))


What is the Proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)?

http://ipjustice.org/wp/campaigns/acta/

In 2007 a select handful of the wealthiest countries began a treaty- 
making process to create a new global standard for intellectual  
property rights enforcement, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement  
(ACTA).  ACTA is spearheaded by the United States, the European  
Commission, Japan, and Switzerland — those countries with the largest  
intellectual property industries.  Other countries invited to  
participate in ACTA’s negotiation process are Canada, Australia,  
Korea, Mexico and New Zealand.  Noticeably absent from ACTA’s  
negotiations are leaders from developing countries who hold national  
policy priorities that differ from the international intellectual  
property industry.
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.

The US is negotiating ACTA through the Office of the US Trade  
Representative (USTR), an office within the Bush Administration that  
has concluded more than 10 “free trade” agreements in recent years,  
all of which require both the US and the other country to increase  
intellectual property rights enforcement measures beyond the  
international legal norms in the WTO-TRIPS Agreement.

As of 25 March 2008, no draft text has been published yet to provide  
the public with substance of the proposed international treaty.  A  
“Discussion Paper on a Possible Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement”  
was reportedly provided to select lobbyists in the intellectual  
property industry, but not to public interest organizations concerned  
with the subject matter of the proposed treaty.

More at -- http://ipjustice.org/wp/campaigns/acta/