No ACTA deal in Japan

ACTA negotiators did not reach an agreement in Japan, Michael Geist reports

Michael Geist writes:

No Deal on ACTA: Japan Round Ends Without Agreement

Reuters reports that the latest round of ACTA negotiations in Tokyo, Japan has failed to produce an agreement.  Negotiators had indicated that they hoped to conclude a draft agreement this week as senior government officials – including U.S. Ambassador Miriam Sapiro, Deputy USTR – attended the final few days.  Despite the political pressure, there is still disagreement over scope, including geographical indications and patents.  The EU indicates that significant progress was made and that a deal is close, but the failure to reach agreement in Japan must surely be viewed as a setback for the U.S. and host Japan. An official statement will presumably be released on Monday.

Update: The site Act-on-ACTA.eu, which is run by the Green group in the European Parliament, has published a Joint Statement From All The Negotiating Parties To ACTA.

The key paragraphs of this statement are:

Participants in the negotiations constructively resolved nearly all substantive issues and produced a consolidated and largely finalized text of the proposed agreement, which will be submitted ad referendum to their respective authorities. The participants agreed to work expeditiously to resolve the small number of outstanding issues that require further examination in capitals, with a view to finalizing the text of the agreement as promptly as possible.

The participants will publicly release the text of the agreement shortly.

Exactly what this will mean in practice remains to be seen.

…………

Tags: piratpartiet, eu, politik, informationspolitik