July 2008.

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, which was called, in a piece of brilliant marketing, the "Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement" (ACTA). The agreement does not cover currency fraud.

ACTA is spearheaded by the United States along with the European Commission, Japan, and Switzerland — which have large 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. ACTA is the new frontline in the global IP enforcement agenda.

To date, disturbingly little information has been released about the actual content of the agreement. However, despite that, it is clearly on a fast track; treaty proponents want it tabled at the G8 summit in July, and completed by the end of 2008.

Sources: EFF, IPJustice, Wikileak

Further reading

Leaked “Discussion Paper on a Possible Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement”
Wikileaks posted the leaked ACTA discussion paper on 22 May 2008.

Electronic Frontier Foundation ACTA page

IPJustice page on ACTA

ACTA, an analysis paper by IPJustice

G8 Summit 2008 – 7-9 July, Hokkaido, Japan