Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

• Control over the movement of counterfeit materials at the border, search of personal items for copyright violations
• Responsibility of providers for hosting and transferring traffic containing counterfeit materials
• Providers will be required to disclose information about their subscribers to copyright holders upon request
• Prohibition of any, including free, software that can be used to view DRM-protected content or to overcome security features, even if it can be used for other purposes. The ban on marketing and hosting related projects.
• Authorization to conduct searches to search for counterfeit materials even in cases where there are no grounds for suspicion
• Criminalization of copyright infringement in countries where there is no such liability
• Criminalizing assistance, complicity and incitement to infringement of intellectual property rights
• The introduction of responsibility for overcoming DRM or developing software that can be used to overcome DRM and other technical means of protection, even if it can be used for other purposes.
• To institute criminal proceedings for copyright infringement, the application or consent of the owner of intellectual property rights should not be necessary. Competent authorities should initiate such cases on their own initiative.
• Seizure and liquidation without delay of any items with fake trademarks without compensation to the owner. The removal of trademarks is not a sufficient reason for returning the goods to the owner or selling the goods in another way

No, the username is not the plot concept of the script for the new futuristic movie. This is worse. This is almost a reality.


On December 3, the final version of the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), an international agreement proposed to strengthen the fight against copyright infringement, was published. According to statements by representatives of the European Union, several weeks are left until the final signing.

The initiators of the agreement were the United States, the European Union, Japan, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, South Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Singapore and Morocco, but according to official reports, Brazil, Russia and China are also expected to join the agreement .

Among other things, the agreement also provides for the points mentioned above.

In addition, the following points are provided:

• Mutual patent recognition by all participating countries
• Seizure and liquidation without delay of any materials and equipment whose main use is the production of goods that violate intellectual property laws
• Each participating country is required to promote the importance of protecting intellectual property among the public, including in educational institutions.

Also, the steering committee will have the right to issue additions to the ACTA, developed with the participation of content producers, which will have the force of law, but will not require ratification in the participating countries and will not undergo a legal examination.

The development of the agreement was carried out in strict confidence for several years, even representatives of the European Parliament could not get the draft agreement before the approval of the final version. Requests by public organizations for the publication of preliminary versions of the agreement were rejected with reference to US secrecy and national security considerations, although some information leaks were posted on Wikileaks.

At the same time, copyright protection organizations such as the RIAA, IIPA, BSA, MPAA and MPA took a close part in the development. In addition, the preliminary text of the agreement was also available to a number of private companies such as Sony Pictures, Time Warner, and Verizon under a non-disclosure agreement.

The final text of the agreement in PDF format can be downloaded here

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