Scope Of ACTA Worries Critics
August 26, 2010
| 2:44 PM
Under a veil of secrecy, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative hosted the 10th round of negotiations on the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in Washington last week, National Journal.com reported.
While the agreement is aimed at increasing international cooperation in curbing the piracy and counterfeiting of intellectual property, it has provoked tension about whose job it is to police the protections afforded to rights holders. The issues addressed under the agreement go far beyond the traditional concept of counterfeiting -- such as fake designer bags -- into digital IP enforcement and liability matters. The agreement, some stakeholders say, could harm business and consumers if not done correctly.
Under ACTA, companies could face "greater exposure to liability overseas for things that are legal and legitimate, and in fact encouraged, in the United States," said Matthew Schruers, a senior counsel at the Computer & Communications Industry Association.
Much is at stake for the technology sector: The digital IP provision of the agreement could make Internet service providers, technology providers and online intermediaries subject to onerous and unfair liability, critics say.
The problem, Schruers and others say, is that the draft ACTA agreement exports the more stringent protections of U.S. IP law into other countries without the balance of safeguards, such as the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright law. To read more, click here.
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