New ACTA Leak Details Differences, Broadening Scope

A new document on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) under negotiation has been circulated online. While it is unclear who it was leaked to, a copy of it is available here [pdf].

Apparently a working document from the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union to its delegations, it contains a comparative table of US and EU proposals on civil enforcement as well as “special measures related to technological enforcement means and the internet,” with comments from the Council and bracketed text submitted by other countries involved in the negotiations.

One of the more frequent disagreements between countries to appear in the text is over whether or not language should be referring to “intellectual property rights” or merely “copyrights and related rights and trademarks.”

There is also a proposal on enforcement measures on which destruction of infringing materials is a possible remedy. At this, the Council noted “destruction of materials and implements is a TRIPS+ provision” and adds it is “important to set limits.”

More detailed analyses of the document have been done by Michael Geist of the University of Ottawa Law School and by James Love of Knowledge Ecology International.