ACTA: the search for key issues

The Attack ACTA movement
reflects some of the strong
feeling generated by it.  JIPLP
 is not looking for polemics
and policy debates, however,
but for legal issues and practical
problems that arise from them

The publication of the 11th round text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on 2 October raised fresh interest in this controversial proposed measure. While it is still premature for JIPLP to be commissioning definitive articles on how different aspects of ACTA will affect IP owners, infringers, border authorities, public sector administrators and legal practitioners, it's not too early to size up the contents of ACTA so that the issues of most significance can be more clearly identified.

Accordingly this weblog invites readers to pick a topic within ACTA and fillet it for matters of critical concern, which can be listed on the blog so that authors can be found for them when the time comes. ACTA -- which is not very long (the full text runs to just 24 sides of well-spaced A4) -- can be divided as follows:

• Initial provisions and general definitions
• Civil enforcement
• Border measures
• Criminal enforcement
• Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Environment
• Enforcement practices
• International cooperation
• Institutional arrangements

If you'd like to take responsibility for identifying topics under one of the listed headings, please email me here with the subject line "ACTA topics".  A reminder: I'm not looking for an article, just for lists (and perhaps just bullet-points) of things which people working in the field of IP enforcement would want to be thinking about.