Yesterday I authored, printed, signed
and sent through snail-mail a letter to Peter Van Loan, Minister of
International Trade. It was in reply to a reply letter he had
written me earlier on ACTA, the Orwellian double-speak named
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. In it I asked him to protect
the global intellectual property system from this attack on existing
institutions.
This morning I read that the
European
parliament passed a resolution calling on Canada to support moving
ACTA to WIPO.
While a bit out-of-date a day
later, the following is the letter I sent:
May 6,
2010
Hon. Peter Van Loan, Minister
of International Trade
CC David McGuinty, my MP in
Ottawa South
CC Charlie Angus, MP who has been
challenging the government on ACTA and other controversial technology
policy.
Dear Hon. Peter Van Loan,
Thank you for your letter of
March 26, 2010 in reply to my email of January 27, 2010, regarding
the so-called Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
In your letter you suggested
that, "The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations are
being undertaken with a view to establishing global standards for the
enforcement of intellectual property rights in order to more
effectively combat the increasing trade in counterfeit and pirated
goods."
If I believed this statement
were true, I would not be concerned with the negotiations. The most
controversial aspects of the previously leaked and now released draft
text are those that have nothing to do with counterfeiting, or which
seem to seek to undermine the established intellectual property
framework as administrated through WIPO, WTO/TRIPS.
WIPO has had problems, with
governments and NGOs being critical of its historical lack of
transparency, accountability and policy balance when measured up to
other UN special agencies. A number of initiatives to reform not
only the organization itself but to also advance policies such as the
development agenda have moved WIPO towards fulfilling the mandate
that justified its status as a special agency of the UN.
An increasing number of
politicians worldwide, including but not limited to members of the
European Parliament, are realizing that the so-called "Institutional
arrangements" (ACTA chapter 5) seem to overlap and seek to
replace existing institutions such as the WIPO. They say that ACTA
is an attempt to circumvent global norms on intellectual property
enforcement and related public interest flexibility.
I urge you to do your part to
protect the global intellectual property system from this attack on
existing institutions. One way is to have Canada sign the Wellington
Declaration http://publicacta.org.nz/wellington-declaration/ , whose
preamble starts with:
"Consistent with
the European Parliament’s Resolution of 10 March 2010 on the
Transparency and State of Play of the ACTA Negotiations
(P7_TA(2010)0058), ACTA should be limited to an Agreement regarding
enforcement against counterfeiting (the large scale commercial
production of illicit physical goods)."
Sincerely,
Russell McOrmond
(Address information removed)
Note: I was going to
hand-write this letter, but felt it better to save you from my
handwriting.
---
Russell McOrmond is a self employed consultant,
policy coordinator for CLUE:
Canada's Association for Free/Libre and Open Source Software,
co-coordinator for Getting Open Source Logic INto Governments (GOSLING),
and host for Digital
Copyright Canada.
