Canadian Heritage Memorandum, December 8, 2020, ATIP A-2020-00498

Bill C-10

ACTA in the UK

Andres Guadamuz has an insightful post on the likely impact of ACTA in the UK.

October 18, 2010 — Comments are Disabled — News

Where U.S. Law is Inconsistent with ACTA

KEI has compiled an instructive list of areas where the ACTA text appears to be inconsistent with U.S. law.

October 12, 2010 — Comments are Disabled — News

There has been no shortage of reaction to the release of the latest ACTA text over the past 24 hours. USTR Ambassador Ron Kirk called it a significant victory and urged other ACTA countries to quickly complete the text. Australian officials also welcomed release of the latest text, while EU […]

October 7, 2010 — 17 comments — News

ACTA Ultra-Lite: The U.S. Cave on the Internet Chapter Complete

One of the biggest stories over the three year negotiation of ACTA has been the willingness of the U.S. to cave on the Internet provisions. When it first proposed the chapter, the U.S. was seeking new intermediary liability requirements with three strikes and you’re out used as an example of an appropriate policy as well as language that attempted to create a global DMCA. The draft released today is a far cry from that proposal with the intermediary liability provisions largely removed and the DMCA digital lock provisions much closer to the WIPO Internet treaty model. In its place, is a chapter that is best viewed as ACTA Ultra-Lite. For Canadians, this is crucial since it now leaves an ACTA that is far more flexible than even Bill C-32. In fact, the Canadian copyright bill now exceeds the requirements under ACTA and could be amended in a manner that will allow for greater balance on digital locks and still be ACTA compliant.

It should also be noted that this chapter is still not concluded. The inclusion of trademarks in some provisions would seemingly require changes to U.S. law and has not acheived consensus. Further, a provision on enforcement procedures ” including the unlawful use of means of widespread distribution for infringing purposes” has not received consensus support. With respect to what has been concluded:

October 6, 2010 — 30 comments — News

ACTA: Sorting Through The Spin

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has always been the exception to the general rule for international negotiations – closed participation rather than open, secretive rather than transparent – so it should come as no surprise that the negotiations have come to an end in an unusual manner. The only thing that is absolutely clear is that there will be no further rounds of negotiation as the latest round in Japan is being described as the final round of talks. Other than that, the conclusion seems open to considerable speculation and spin.

From the U.S. perspective, the negotiations are done and ACTA is nearly a reality. USTR Ambassador Ron Kirk has been quoted as saying that there are solutions to even the toughest issues and that nearly all parties have agreed to them. Another U.S. official admitted that there were still as many as six issues without agreement, including two on border measures and another from the Internet chapter. The EU has been even less supportive, with an official quoted as saying “we’ve come a long way but we must still close the remaining gaps without which there will be no agreement.” Moreover, several European Parliament Members are already calling for a halt to the deal. Meanwhile, Japanese officials have acknowledged that there are issues that require further discussion back home and that “in that sense we haven’t gotten agreement.”

October 5, 2010 — 14 comments — News