PHA-Exch> Secret Counterfeiting Treaty Must Be Made Public, Global Organizations Say

[Claudio Schuftan]

   From:    srimmington at essentialinformation.org
  For more information contact:
USA: Robert Weissman, director, Essential Action  +1 (202) 387-8030 ,
(Mobile)  +1 (202) 360-1844 , rob at essential.org

Australia: Kimberlee Weatherall, Lecturer, TC Beirne School of Law, The
University of Queensland and Board Member, Australian Digital Alliance,
(Mobile)  +61 4 0376 2544 , k.weatherall at law.uq.edu.au

Canada: Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and e-commerce Law,
University of Ottawa, (Office)  +1 (613) 562-5800  ext. 3319,
mgeist at uottawa.ca

Korea: Byoung-il Oh, Korean Progressive Network Jinbonet, (Tel)
+82-2-774-455, (Mobile)  +82-19-213-9199 , antiropy at www.jinbo.net



**Secret Counterfeiting Treaty Must Be Made Public, Global Organizations
Say**

More than 100 public interest organizations from around the world today
called on officials from the countries negotiating Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
Agreement (ACTA) -- the United States, the European Union, Switzerland,
Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand -- to publish
immediately the draft text of the agreement.

Secrecy around the treaty negotiation has fueled concerns that its terms
will undermine vital consumer interests.

Organizations signing the letter include: Consumers Union, Electronic
Frontier Foundation, Essential Action, IP Justice, Knowledge Ecology
International, Public Knowledge, Global Trade Watch, U.S. Public Interest
Research Group, IP Left (Korea), Australian Digital Alliance, The Canadian
Library Association, Consumers Union of Japan, National Consumer Council
(UK) and Doctors without Borders' Campaign for Essential Medicines.

Based on leaked documents and industry comments on the proposed treaty, the
groups expressed concerns that ACTA may:

* Require Internet Service Providers to monitor all consumers' Internet
communications;

* Interfere with fair use of copyrighted materials;

* Criminalize peer-to-peer electronic file sharing; and

* Undermine access to low-cost generic medicines.

"Because the text of the treaty and relevant discussion documents remain
secret, the public has no way of assessing whether and to what extent these
and related concerns are merited," say the public interest groups in their
letter.

Worsening the problem is the perception that industry lobbyists have access
to the text and are influencing the negotiations. "The lack of transparency
in negotiations of an agreement that will affect the fundamental rights of
citizens of the world is fundamentally undemocratic. It is made worse by the
public perception that lobbyists from the music, film, software, video
games, luxury goods and pharmaceutical industries have had ready access to
the ACTA text and pre-text discussion documents through long-standing
communication channels."

"Why in the world are trade negotiators keeping the treaty a secret?" asks
Robert Weissman, director of Essential Action. "Are they worried about
counterfeiters influencing the negotiations? What possible rationale is
there for secrecy -- other than to lock out the public? Intentionally or
not, a treaty to prevent unauthorized copying may easily go too far, and
undermine important consumer interests. That's why it is so important that
this deal be negotiated in the light of day."

The full text of the letter and the list of signers is available at:
http://www.essentialaction.org/access/uploads/ACTA-signon.rtf

Additional quotes from international groups signing the letter is available
at:
http://www.essentialaction.org/access/uploads/ACTAquotes.rtf

You can also access the documents at:
www.essentialaction.org/access/index.php?/archives/173-Secret-Counterfeiting-Treaty-Public-Must-be-Made-Public,-Global-Organizations-Say.html



Essential Action is a public health and corporate accountability group
located in Washington, DC.



***Additional Comments on Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
Negotiations***


Kimberlee Weatherall, Lecturer, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of
Queensland, and Board Member, Australian Digital Alliance "It's
extraordinary that a treaty which potentially affects such a wide range of
interests would be negotiated behind closed doors: there's too much at
stake. Secrecy is only increasing people's fears, and the belief that the
negotiations aren't taking sufficient account of the public interest."


Professor David Fewer, Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic
(CIPPIC), University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law
"We're looking for the Canadian government to show leadership in introducing
transparency and responsible consumer consultation to ACTA discussions."


Professor Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and e-commerce
Law, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law
"ACTA has raised concerns for millions of citizens around the world.  The
time has come to lift the veil of secrecy and ensure that the future
negotiations occur in an open and transparent environment."


Heeseob Nam, IP Left, Seoul, Korea
"ACTA is another name for "kicking away the ladder" with which the
industrialised nations climbed to the top. During the debate of Patent Act
of 1790, Richard Wells argued that Americans should not be deprived of the
advantage of imitating any of the English invention. This argument prevailed
in the U.S. House, and the importation of patents became prohibited. This
policy objective was invigorated by discrimination against foreign inventors
in the US, and the statute lasted for about 70 years after 1793."


Gwen Hinze, International Policy Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation,
San Francisco, CA, USA
"Despite its potentially harmful impact on consumers' privacy and free
expression, and on Internet innovation, the citizens that stand to be
directly affected by ACTA's provisions have been given almost no information
about its contents. A leaked document includes new legal regimes to
"encourage ISPs to cooperate with right holders", criminal measures, and
increased border search powers, all of which raise considerable concern for
citizens' civil liberties. Given the expedited timeframe in which it is
being negotiated, citizens deserve to see the full text of ACTA now, so that
they can evaluate its impact on their lives."


James Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), Washington, DC,
USA
"Counterfeiting, properly defined, is a serious problem.  Why the top secret
negotiating approach for this treaty?  The USTR won't even give us the
agendas of the meetings or the names of the negotiators, or the proposed
texts  -- stuff that is normally transparent.  I think the answer is the
bogus use of an emotive term, counterfeiting, to push an unbalanced IP
enforcement agenda, without any attention to civil or consumer rights.
 Unfortunately, there is bipartisan support for this assault on openness and
transparency. Little wonder most people don't trust governments these days.
 Why should they?"

Sherwin Siy, Staff Attorney and Director of Global Knowledge Initiative,
Public Knowledge, Washington, DC, USA
"It's incredible that such a significant document on such vital issues can
move forward when virtually nothing is known or shared about its actual
contents. If we are going to have international agreements on matters so
essential to the exchange of speech, information, and knowledge, these
agreements cannot be made in secret."





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