ACTA Developments May Hurt ISPs, Tech Companies

The current version of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement was released yesterday, under mounting criticism that the negotiations have been to secretive up until this point, according to the Associated Press. The treaty, which involves the United States and 12 other countries, has been in the making since 2007. Last week another round of talks were concluded in New Zealand. The treaty aims to “crack down on counterfeiting, copyright violations and other intellectual property theft, and would cover everything from fake pharmaceuticals to online piracy of music and movies,” according to abc.com. However, the article further points out that ISPs and other intermediary internet companies may be legally liable for infringing content in ways they have not in the past. Every nation that signs the treaty is expected to bring its laws into compliance. Whereas the United States, under its current Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires the provider to remove infringing content, it is not subject to monetary damages. Whether this will be the case under ACTA is still unclear, and ISPs and other technology companies are not pleased.

An interesting point of view on how this will play out suggests that a commercial approach, linking ISPs with content providers could then render piracy a moot point. This would protect the technology companies from liability on infringement issues. The full argument can be found here, at computerworld.com.