[p2p-research] Fwd: [opennetcoalition] Essay: The Impact of ACTA on the Knowledge Economy

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Eddan Katz <eddan at eff.org>
Date: Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 7:36 AM
Subject: [opennetcoalition] Essay: The Impact of ACTA on the Knowledge
Economy
To: opennetcoalition at laquadrature.net


Of interest to the parallel work being done in Europe on ACTA, notably by
FFII and others on the  Article 133 competence issue in the EU:

Is ACTA - the Secret Global Copyright Agreement Targetting the  Internet -
being negotiated by the US Trade Representative in an  unconstitutional way?
New law review article my colleague Gwen Hinze
and I got published today. Available at
http://www.yjil.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=120:the-impact-of-the-anti-counterfeiting-trade-agreement-on-the-knowledge-economy&catid=11:latest-articles-online&Itemid=117#


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The Impact of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement on the Knowledge
 Economy: The Accountability of the Office of the U.S. Trade  Representative
for the Creation of IP Enforcement Norms Through Trade Agreements. 35 Yale
J. Intl. Law 21 (2009). by Eddan Katz & Gwen Hinze (Electronic Frontier
Foundation)

I. INTRODUCTION
U.S. trade policy on Intellectual Property (IP) enforcement is at
acrossroads in the governance of the global knowledge economy. Calls for a
war on counterfeiting and piracy have intensified, led by a  coalition
of multinational corporations in the entertainment, pharmaceutical, and
luxury goods industries, that rely on expanding IP protection for their
business models. This coalition has pursued the growth of IP rights in
multilateral institutions over the past two decades to secure its incumbent
position in the knowledge economy. These efforts now threaten to undermine
the balance of IP at the foundation of sustainable innovation and
creativity.1 IP enforcement isolated from innovation policy ignores the
legal flexibility that enables information technology to emerge, obstructs
access to knowledge, and threatens citizens’ civil liberties. This Essay
questions the agenda behind the plurilateral Anti- Counterfeiting Trade
Agreement (ACTA or the Agreement), now under negotiation, that is the
vanguard of the global IP enforcement regime. Announced as a modest
coordination of customs practices among friendly nations, ACTA regulates far
more than that. We discuss the loopholes of accountability under which ACTA
is being negotiated. We analyze the impact of this secrecy on public policy
and citizens’ rights in the information society, and dispute the
appropriateness of negotiating ACTA as a sole executive agreement.

We argue that increased transparency, accountability mechanisms, and input
from civil society in the ACTA negotiations are essential
because: (1) accountability mechanisms are core to the constitutional design
of foreign trade agreements; (2) balanced policymaking requires a diverse
representation of interests; and (3) global Internet regulations could
result in changes to the Internet’s fundamental architecture.

We conclude by outlining several proposals that would help achieve this:

• Reform trade advisory committees for more diverse representation;
• Strengthen congressional oversight and negotiating objectives;
• Institutionalize transparency guidelines for trade negotiations; and
• Implement the State Department’s solicitation of public comments under the
Circular 175 procedure.

___________________________________

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