Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a global effort to improve and create international standards for the enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights laws against large scale IP Rights (IPR) infringements. The primary components of ACTA include (1) international cooperation (2) enforcement practices and (3)legal framework to enforce IPR. On October 1, 2011, United States, Australia, Canada, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Morocco, and Singapore signed ACTA during a ceremony in Tokyo, Japan. On January 26, 2012, the members of the EU signed the agreement despite street protests in France and Poland and international oppositions.

The final Text of ACTA is available here

Background

In 2006, Japan and the United States introduced the idea of a new plurilateral treaty to combat counterfeiting and piracy which was called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) to bring together interested all governments worldwide that are willing to cooperate to improve the international standards to enforce the protection of Intellectual Property Rights. The negotiation started on June 2008. Any member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) supporting ACTA will be able to sign the agreement until May 2013.

Supporters

Below are the supporters of ACTA:

• Copyright Alliance
• Emergency Committee for American Trade
• International Intellectual Property Alliance
• International Trademark Association
• Motion Picture Association of America
• National Association of Manufacturers
• Recording Industry Association of America
• Software & Information Industry Association
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• United States Council for International Business
• U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas)