US Trade Representative Ron Kirk has responded to a letter from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) regarding the still-under-negotiation Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, once again affirming that the proposed executive agreement will not alter existing US law.
Ron Kirk Letter to Ron Wyden re ACTA
Kirk's letter also reiterates that the draft Internet Chapter closely resembles the DMCA, and is intended to "provide appropriate flexibility" so that Congress may still alter existing law should it choose.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
6 comments:
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If ACTA closely resembles DMCA, changes to the existing law are required in most (if not all) European countries. A lot of the concern about ACTA has been voiced by sources outside the US.
ReplyDeleteBen, I'm a bit confused, why do we need ACTA in the first place?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 11:42:
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't sound like you genuinely are looking for an answer, but I suggest you go read USTR's statements on this issue:
http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/blog/2010/march/acta-letters-now-online
http://www.ustr.gov/acta
No changes in US law, but the concern with ACTA is that it exports the worst aspects of US law, including the DMCA, to other countries.
ReplyDeleteThese are more often than not covered under existing treaties such as Berne, WTO-TRIPS, Wipo Copyright. Implementation should be left up to the individual signatories, not a cut and paste job from US law.
KEI has looked at the Wyden letter, focusing on the injunction and damages sections of ACTA. We also compared the damages language to the Senate patent reform bill to ACTA, and they are quite different. http://keionline.org/node/792
ReplyDeleteBen,
ReplyDeleteI have strong doubts about Ambassador Kirk's veracity. Very strong doubts. I suspect that he would make an excellent used car salesman.