The Harper government’s hopes of including elements of the controversial Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in a trade agreement with Europe could be in danger.
The European Parliament defeated the agreement in June, but according to this report, large parts of it remain in a proposed Canada-EU Trade Agreement. A Dutch lobby group called Bits of Freedom has been urging its government to make it clear that agreement would also be rejected. This week, it says, the Dutch government announced that it will not back any agreement with ACTA-like provisions.
(The flag of the Netherlands)
ACTA is an international treaty signed by Ottawa, part of it’s strategy to convince companies — and the United States– that it is serious about stamping out counterfeiting. It has already passed changes to the Copyright Act to make it conform to ACTA.
As international resistance to ACTA-like provisions grows, one has to wonder what the reaction of the U.S. will be. A number of powerful IT American companies, like Microsoft and Apple, have been trying to stamp out counterfeiting for years. If ACTA fails, what will replace it?