I have been following the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) for some time through the news and IP-blogs. A recent post in the EFF site got me thinking and I began researching the matter a bit more closely. The ACTA process is presented as secret and avoiding the scrutiny of the more critical part of the public.Â
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I am not the only one thinking about this apparently. A few days ago Hanne Agersnap from the Danish party SF has put 2 questions to the Danish Minister of Business and Economy in this matter. The questions circle around the Danish position in this matter – particularly the openness issue. Actually Hanne could check out the DKPTO blog where the ACTA has been the subject of a number of posts. It is not clear however how well informed the DKPTO is in this matter – ie. Have they seen the texts circulating and are what is the Danish position?Â
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The European Commission has done a Q&A document on the ACTA. In there it is stated that the ACTA is not secret and there is no actual ACTA text yet. In the document there is a given a reason for avoiding the WIPO and WTO as venues for negotiation for the agreement. The reason is that they are too big and move too slowly and (my interpretation) political disagreements dilute the legal texts.Â
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The ACTA must be described as semi transparent as there is not much focus on the treaty. This is mainly due to the fact that there is not any pressure (in Denmark) from organizations to get involved in this matter.Â