Just spotted in my RSS feed from the Government portal – newzealand.govt.nz, in case you didn’t know – is a post from MED about the latest round of ACTA negotiations ACTA Negotiations: Report on Round Three, 8-9 October 2008, Tokyo
Of course, it says bugger all of substance, as expected after the last round report, but the interesting thing is that it’s there at all. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it’s the first time I’ve seen anything in the feed about ACTA. This says 2 things to me: 1) they know we’re watching and 2) they have decided to be a little more proactive about publicising the negotiations.
Apparently, “participants in the discussion included Australia, Canada, the European Union (represented by the European Commission and the EU Presidency (France)), Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United States” (Morocco?? O rly? Mind you, they’re probably saying “New Zealand? WTF?” so it evens out).
“Participants reaffirmed their goal to combat global infringements of intellectual property rights (IPR), particularly in the context of counterfeiting and piracy on a commercial scale, by increasing international cooperation, strengthening the framework of practices that contribute to effective enforcement, and strengthening relevant IPR enforcement measures themselves.”
Yep, very ‘mom and apple pie’ but nothing of any detail or indication of timeframe. I suspect the US election
and, more specifically, the economic crisis have kicked the end of the year target, announced after the June G8 meeting, into touch, but I wouldn’t relax yet. Susan Schwab is a tenacious political operator who might just try to rush it all through in December and get it signed up by Bush before he drags his sorry self out of the OvalOffice.
“The discussion at this meeting focused on criminal enforcement of IPR. Participants also continued their previous discussions of civil enforcement of IPR.”
That’s good to know, because I kinda thought that’s what the role of ACTA was supposed to be about – No! Wait! Isn’t it about counterfeiting???!!1? Yeah, right.
“Participants confirmed their intention to continue consulting with their respective stakeholders, and to share the results of the consultations at their next meeting.”
No need to click the link now, I think I’ve only not quoted about 50 words. That’s about how much consulting is going to go on. They may be upping their PR game, but I doubt that anything has really changed.
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“Participants also continued their previous discussions of civil enforcement of IPR.””
A matter in which NZ has taken a world leading role.
Sadly true. As Colin said the other day, it’s pitiful what we are taking the lead on.
Striking that this bit is identical to the USTR’s language:
Yup, I think part of their agenda should have been titled “Singing from the same hymnbook”
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