The scene last week at the Intercontinental Dallas Hotel looked like any generic corporate event held in any generic hotel ballroom—until the protesters crashed the party. Trade officials from countries scattered around the Pacific Rim mingled in business attire. Ron Kirk, current US Trade Representative and former mayor of Dallas, welcomed everyone to the the latest round of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). [...]

The plurilateral Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) that has been mired in controversy since its signing in 2010 faces another roadblock with one of its members, the European Union, likely to reject the Agreement. [...]

Controversial anti-counterfeiting agreement stalls in face of protests as European commissioner says it is unlikely to pass. [...]

Speaking on Friday, Kroes said that "we are now likely to be in a world without Sopa" – the US's proposed Stop Online Piracy Act – "and Acta." [...]

A European Commission vice president said on Friday a planned global pact to crack down on fake consumer goods and medicines and websites that break copyright laws would probably never come into force, because of strong opposition. [...]

"We are now likely to be in a world without SOPA and without ACTA," Neelie Kroes, the EU's commissioner for technology and telecoms said in a speech to bloggers and web entrepreneurs in Berlin. [...]

Head of global media observation group says many countries are trying to restrict internet freedom in name of security.

Governments across the world – including those in the US and UK – are posing a threat to internet freedom through "hasty" legislation passed due to security fears, the head of an international media watchdog has warned. [...]

A European data protection watchdog has added its voice to growing criticism of proposed anti-piracy legislation. [...] The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) said that the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta) might have "unacceptable side effects" on individual rights. [...]

David Martin, the Parliament's rapporteur on Acta, said last week that politicians would not be able to "guarantee adequate protection for citizens' rights" if the treaty was ratified. [...]

Last week we saw the Socialists and Democrats, the second-largest bloc in the European Parliament, turn against ACTA. Combined with the stated position of the Green party there, that means ACTA is closer to being thrown out when the vote for ratification takes place in Brussels this summer.

The deciding factor is how politicians in the centre-right coalition of Liberals and Conservatives will vote, and there are now signs that they too are contemplating rejection [...]

The recommendation to the European Parliament will be to reject ACTA. The rapporteur, David Martin, has today made an official announcment to that effect. The announcement moves ACTA fate one step closer to its coffin, but it would be foolish to think that its fate is finally sealed. [...]

http://www.iptegrity.com/index.php/acta/760-its-official-european-parlia...

The US government is not happy about ACTA, and is already taking steps to introduce what it really wants by another back door. In a document leaked today by the European Digital Rights group (EDRi), a new plan for intellectual property enforcement is revealed. Where ACTA was vague, the new plan is explicit. [...]

http://www.iptegrity.com/index.php/internet-threats/759-america-ups-the-...

ACTA and TPP have much in common. That's no coincidence, since they are both born of a common desire to move away from multilateral forums like WIPO that are relatively open to scrutiny, to invitation-only groups negotiating behind closed doors. That lack of transparency has allowed all kinds of extreme measures to be proposed without any countervailing arguments being heard about why they are neither fair nor sensible. [...]

The European Commission took a stance yesterday (4 April) in favour of a quick adoption of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), against the will of the European Parliament, which plans to reject it in a plenary vote by the summer. [...]

The statement comes in response to noises from the Socialist and Green groups in the European Parliament, which vowed to "bury" ACTA by the summer, before the Court would have a chance to issue a verdict. [...]

The European Commission has asked the European Parliament not to vote on the contentious Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in June.

The Parliament is likely to reject ACTA , but the Commission has argued that the vote should not take place until the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has delivered a verdict on the treaty's compliance with fundamental rights. [...]

Today, the European Commission has taken the next step in the important process of referring the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). By agreeing on the legal submission to be put before the ECJ, the Commission aims to respond to the wide-ranging concerns voiced by people across Europe on what ACTA is about and whether it harms fundamental rights in any way. [...]