The UK is negotiating an international legal framework for
protecting intellectual property that will criminalise
copyright infringement and the use of peer-to-peer file sharing for
copyright material.
If agreed and implemented, the framework will give law
enforcement officials new powers to enter and search premises and
to confiscate goods that infringe copyright.
Critics believe this could extend officials' powers, enabling
them to seize and search laptops and iPods for illegal
downloads.
A UK delegation led by officials from the
UK Intellectual Property
Office met EU colleagues today in Brussels to discuss the
proposed frameworkd, dubbed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
(ACTA).
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is aimed at fighting a
£100bn global trade in fake and stolen goods by creating a uniform
glonal legal system to enforce intellectual property rights.
The G8 meeting in Hokkaido today
endorsed
the negotiations. "We encourage the acceleration of
negotiations to establish ACTA, and seek to complete the
negotiation by the end of this year," it said.
The G8 intellectual property experts group said global trade in
counterfeit goods measured by the OECD in 2005 was worth some
£100bn. This excluded the value of counterfeit and pirated goods
produced and distributed domestically, according to
a
report presented today (8 July).
"The group takes note with deep concern that global trade in
counterfeit and pirated goods continues to persist," it said. It
noted the emergence of organised criminal networks in
counterfeiting and piracy.
It proposed a range of measures for members and other countries
to follow to create a uniform global legal regime to
protect intellectual property.
Discussions prior to the G8 meeting have not been made public,
but a document titled
"Discussion
paper on a Possible Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement" was
leaked to whistleblowers' website
Wikileaks on 23 May. It appears
to embody many of the topics considered by the G8 experts.
It called for criminal sanctions for IP infringements for
commercial advantage or private financial gain. People who breach
copyright without any intention of private gain but who
"prejudicially affects the copyright owner (eg internet piracy)"
could also face criminal sanctions.
It called for authorities to be able to act without a complaint
from the copyright holder, and for officials to be allowed to seize
and destroy infringing goods. It further proposed "measures to
ensure that goods are not released into channels of commerce
without right holder permission in cases where the goods have been
determined by the competent authorities to be infringing
intellectual property rights."
It specifically called for "measure to address large-scale
illegal optical disc (OD) production for countries that have
large-scale illegal OD production."
The leaked document proposed giving internet service providers a
"safe harbour". This would protect ISPs from liability to encourage
them to cooperate with right holders in removing infringing
material.
But it also proposed enabling "right holders who have given
effective notification of a claimed infringement to expeditiously
obtain information identifying the alleged infringer".
It also called for remedies to stop people who get around the
protection mechanisms used by copyright holders or who trade in
protection-busting tools.
No statement was issued, but a G8 spokesman said negotiations
would continue.