The UK government is expected to use a conference in support
of the creative industries to reveal details of an international
anti-counterfeiting trade agreement(Acta)being thrashed out in secret.
The agenda for the three-day
Creativity and Business
International Network (c&binet) event will focus on four
main themes: access to finance for creative industries; new
business models for online content; developing talent; and securing
creative rights.
These discussions are unlikely to get far without government
input on the Acta talks. The UK
Intellectual Property Office
has been leading the UK's involvement with Acta discussions. A
spokesman for the office referred questions to the European
Commission's trade directorate. Officials at the departments of
business, innovation and skills, and culture, media and sport,
declined to comment on the substance of the talks.
However, Wikileaks, which published the original draft Acta
documents, has posted a
searchable draft of the proposed agreement.
The last round of Acta negotiations was held in Rabat, Morocco,
in July, and the next will be in the Republic of Korea in November
2009. A press statement issued after the July meeting said,
"Participants confirmed their intention to conclude the agreement
as soon as possible in 2010."
Establishing international standards
There has been widespread anger and suspicion about what is on
the table. Initial documents were apparently prepared by US music
and film publishers' associations and posted on the
Wikileaks website.
These suggested it gave border control authorities Draconian
powers to detain and inspect travellers' electronic products
for unlicensed goods. It also appeared to license massive
surveillance of internet traffic to detect illegal file sharing of
copyright material, and to
criminalise the possession of unlicensed material.
To defuse the controversy, the US trade department issued a
summary in April of the topics under negotiation. It said then
that a comprehensive set of proposals for the text of the agreement
did not yet exist.
It said Acta aimed to establish international standards for
enforcing intellectual property rights to fight the growing problem
of counterfeiting and piracy more efficiently.
"The intended focus is on counterfeiting and piracy activities
that significantly affect commercial interests, rather than on the
activities of ordinary citizens," it said.
"Acta is not intended to interfere with a signatory's ability to
respect its citizens' fundamental rights and civil liberties, and
will be consistent with the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) and will respect
the Declaration on TRIPS and public health," it said.
Protecting the creative industry
The
Creativity and
Business International Network was set up to help businesses
solve problems through international dialogue about the creative
economy, the government said.
Phil Smith, managing director of Cisco Systems UK, and Ashley
Highfield, Microsoft UK's managing director of consumer and online,
are panellists, while keynote speakers include business secretary
Lord Mandelson, Jean-Bernard Lévy, chairman and CEO of Vivendi, and
Elio Leoni-Sceti, CEO of EMI Music.
The c&binet event takes place from 26-28 October 2009 at The
Grove in Hertfordshire.
Leading figures from the creative and financial industries are
helping to shape the c&binet agenda.