The agenda for this week’s ACTA meeting, which starts on Thursday in Tokyo, has been posted.

Cooperation in the Pacific Rim by Jakob Polacsek, World Economic Forum (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/48179628441
Digital Trade
ECIS on ACTA
The European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), which includes companies such as IBM, Nokia, Oracle, Opera, and Red Hat, has issued a new position paper expressing concern about ACTA.
ACTA Negotiations – Start September 23rd, No Firm End Date
Open Rights Group met with UK officials on ACTA this week and reports that negotiations on the next round will begin next week in Tokyo. Officials say that the negotiations will begin on September 23rd and that the U.S. hopes to keep talking until a deal is done.
How IP Enforcement Can Be Used To Suppress Dissent
The NY Times ran a bombshell article over the weekend in which it reported that Russia has been using the pre-text of intellectual property enforcement to seize computers from NGO groups involved in advocacy and dissent. The article notes that the authorities have been receiving active assistance from Microsoft, which […]
French Officials Say Willing to Walk Away From ACTA
Confirming earlier comments from the European Commission, French government officials have told NGO groups that they are willing to walk away from ACTA if the agreement does not include coverage of geographical indications.






