Secret trade treaty should be rejected

A secretly negotiated treaty, called The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), should be rejected by the Australian Parliament, according to a leading intellectual property expert. Speaking this morning at the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties at the Australian Parliament, Matthew Rimmer, an Associate Professor from the ANU College of Law, raised concerns that the treaty was secretly negotiated by a limited number of nation states. "Scholars have called this a 'Country-Club' approach to setting intellectual property standards. There has been little in the way of democratic deliberations with civil society groups or affected industries and communities," Rimmer said. "Developing countries and mid-tier nations such as China and India have complained about being excluded from the negotiations. The critical role of parliaments in treaty-making has been trammelled." The treaty is designed to maximise the rights of intellectual property owners in a wide range of areas -copyright law, trademark law, the digital environment, and border measures. However, Rimmer is worried about the broad definitions of 'piracy' and 'counterfeiting' under the treaty.  " I am unconvinced that the measures in the treaty will be effective in addressing intellectual property infringement. And I am concerned that the treaty shifts some of the costly and expensive burden of intellectual property enforcement to the police, border security officials, and intermediaries," Rimmer said.  "The treaty lacks balance.