25 Mar, 2008: IP Justice White Paper on the Proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
In 2007 a select handful of the wealthiest countries began a treaty-making process to create a new global standard for intellectual property rights enforcement, the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). ACTA is spearheaded by the United States, the European Commission, Japan, and Switzerland -- those countries with the largest intellectual property industries. Other countries invited to participate in ACTA’s negotiation process are Canada, Australia, Korea, Mexico and New Zealand. Noticeably absent from ACTA’s negotiations are leaders from developing countries who hold national policy priorities that differ from the international intellectual property industry....

21 Mar, 2008: ACTA’s Misguided Effort to Increase Govt Spying and Ratchet-Up IPR Enforcement at Public Expense
IP Justice Comments to the U.S.T.R. on the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). IP Justice firmly believes that ACTA’s costs to the public far outweigh any public benefit it might provide. The financial expense to tax-payers to fund ACTA would be enormous and steal scarce resources away from programs that deal with genuine public needs like providing education and eliminating hunger. ACTA would burden the judicial system and divert badly needed law enforcement and customs resources away from public security and towards private profit. Unfortunately the zeal to “beef-up” enforcement measures on which ACTA rides often leads to the violation of privacy rights, bypassing due process protections, and cutting-off the free flow of information. ACTA ...

15 Mar, 2008: WIPO Copyright Committee Considers Many Proposals for 2008 Work Program
WIPO Copyright Committee: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back  'Broadcast Treaty Chair' Remains, Limitations and Exceptions to Copyright Considered (15 March 2008)  The WIPO Copyright Committee (SCCR) met from 10-12 March 2008 in Geneva to debate the future work program for the committee after the Member States of the WIPO General Assembly told the committee last Fall to put the proposed Broadcast Treaty on the back-burner.  This meeting was the first time that any consideration could be given to an important proposal by Chile in 2005 to update limitations and exceptions to copyright to balance the current practice of ever-expanding rights. ...

12 Mar, 2008: “Privacy-Invasive” Domain Name Trademark Bill Before US Congress
Sign the Petition. A new bill (S. 2661) is currently before the US Congress that would once again expand trademark rights to domain names and threaten free expression on the Internet. The bill, introduced by US Senator Snowe (R-Maine), also contains a privacy-invasive provision over the revelation of "whois" data (ICANN's online database about website owners). The Snowe bill pretends to be an "anti-phishing" bill, but is really a trademark bill in disguise.

11 Mar, 2008: US Govt Seizes Blacklisted Domain Names of European Company for Selling Cuba Trips
"An interesting story broke recently in the NY Times about a Spanish travel company that had its domain names taken away by the US Government for selling Europeans vacations to Cuba. Even though the company's business was not targeted at the US and was lawful in its national jurisdiction, the company's websites were put on a domain name blacklist maintained by the US Treasury Department. According to the NY Times, US Treasury officials contacted the Spanish company's domain name registrar, which is based in the US, and ordered that the websites be disabled, since it was "a generator of resources that the Cuban regime uses to oppress its people." Unfortunately this case is another example of ...

6 Mar, 2008: Freedom of Expression at Risk by Council of Europe
The Council of Europe needs something useful to do. Although the inter-governmental organization of European states frequently makes beautiful statements about the importance of freedom of expression and other human rights, unfortunately, the actions of the CoE too frequently take another direction: censorship...

20 Feb, 2008: Domain Names are Bigger than Trademarks: ICANN’s New Consumer Protection Role
The terminology “confusingly similar” lends itself to the expansion of trademark rights to domain names by commercial uses and governments to the disadvantage of non-commercial users. ICANN should refrain from taking on consumer protection type roles (such as preventing “confusion” in people) and only regulate issues related to the technical coordination of the Domain Name System.

15 Feb, 2008: ICANN Not Yet Ready to Sever Ties to US Government
ICANN argues that it should be cut-lose from the only oversight it currently knows in the ongoing debate over who governs Cyberspace. I submitted my statement from the 31st public ICANN Meeting at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi, India. I said that ICANN has not provided for sufficient representation of Internet users in its policy making process, nor has it committed to respecting human rights in Cyberspace, although it has made progress to become more international....

5 Feb, 2008: Public Comments Open on USTR Special 301 List
"The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has requested written submissions from the public "concerning foreign countries' acts, policies, and practices that are relevant to the decision as to whether particular trading partners should be identified" in its Special 301 List. The USTR's Special 301 Lists are used to impose trade sanction on foreign countries that do not adhere to US preferences for intellectual property right protections. These lists are also used to require foreign countries to enter into bi-lateral trade negotiations with the US that results in a change in the foreign country's domestic law to comply with US demands. Members of the public at large and foreign countries are strongly encouraged to send comments to the ...