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A Sampling of ACTA Reactions

By Michael Geist

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 officials argued that the text was consistent with European law.

The typical ACTA supporters were not very enthusiastic.  The RIAA admitted that "the digital text is bare-bones because governments believe we are at time when you shouldn't get locked into a static solution."  The Chamber of Commerce acknowledged that it was "disappointed that a more specific agreement was not possible at this time."

The NGO community was generally critical - La Quadrature du Net called it a "counterfeit of democracy," Public Knowledge noted the positive changes in the Internet chapter but expressed concern about the process, and KEI argued that ACTA is essentially a re-write of Part III of TRIPS.  Moreover, there is legal analysis from PIJIP, Monica Horten, and TechDirt.

Many news reports focused on the Internet chapter, particularly the U.S. decision to cave on key issues such as secondary liability and anti-circumvention legislation.  These include articles from the Associated Press, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Ars Technica, and Wired.

Full post as published by Michael Geist on October 07, 2010 (boomark / email).