The Associated Press has a story on ACTA and the growing concern from the technology community with the agreement.
Post Tagged with: "counterfeiting"
U.S. Government Study: Counterfeiting and Piracy Data Unreliable
For several years, I have written about the lack of reliability of data on counterfeiting. The RCMP cited data without any factual basis, while other groups regularly made claims without support, such as reports from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Conference Board of Canada. Of course, this phenomenon was not limited to Canada. The US Patent and Trademark Office relied on the same data to claim 7 – 8 % of world trade is counterfeit, while a report from the first Global Congress on Counterfeiting, which led to ACTA, pointed to FBI data it said showed counterfeiting at US$200 – 250 billion per year.
This week a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office concludes that estimates such as these are not reliable and cannot be substantiated to a data source. The U.S. GAO was required by Congress to try to quantify the impact of counterfeit and pirated goods. While concluding that counterfeiting exists and is a problem, the GAO could not find reliable data. Its review of commonly cited claims:
Consumer Electronics Association on ACTA
Consumer Electronics Association head Gary Shapiro writes on ACTA, warning that it is the most dangerous global trade agreement you've never heard of.
The Truth About ACTA: My PublicACTA Keynote Address
As I posted over the weekend, I had the pleasure of participating in the PublicACTA conference in Wellington, New Zealand. The Wellington Declaration is a must-read, as is the extensive media coverage that ACTA has received over the past 48 hours in New Zealand (NZ PC World, National Business Review, […]
U.S.: No ACTA Transparency Unless Other Countries Cave on Substance
The U.S. Trade Representative issued a release just prior to the launch of the New Zealand round of ACTA negotiations that has left no doubt that the U.S. is the biggest barrier to official release of the ACTA text. The full text of the release is couched in terms of […]
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