The TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) today issued a Resolution on the enforcement of copyright, trademarks, patents and other intellectual property rights .

The TACD Resolution comes at a time when governments in Europe and North America are considering a wide range of new global standards for IP enforcement.  Among those new norms are the proposed “Anti-Counterfeiting” Trade Agreement (ACTA) [On April 6, 2009, USTR released a detailed summary of the current state of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations: http://www.ustr.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/factsheets/2009/asset_upload_file917_15546.pdf ], new customs procedures through the World Customs Organization (WCO), anti-Counterfeiting measures at the World Health Organization (WHO), WTO disputes over enforcement, proposals in Europe for “graduated response” and other Internet filtering solutions, several European Union Directives and bills pending before the U.S. Congress and other countries on the topic of IP enforcement, bilateral trade agreements, and unilateral trade sanctions by Europe and the United States.

The 2,000 word TACD Resolution touches on a wide range of topics relating to IP enforcement policies and practices, ranging from transparency, evidence and process, to both general and detailed recommendations on substantive policies.  TACD first discussed the Resolution with representatives from the European Union and the U.S. Government on June 9, 2009, during the TACD 10th Annual Meeting in Brussels.


The following are comments about the Resolution from members of the TACD (Quotes are arranged in alphabetical order):

Edouard Barreiro , UFC-Que Choisir, Paris (France)
“It seems essential to legalize out-of-market exchanges of copyrighted content, which belong to the natural evolution of uses and of consumption. Even if such uses don’t compete with the so called “legal offers” of content, they have to offer creators a fair compensation, with the help of adapted mechanisms allowing a fair and equitable remuneration.”

Sophie Bloemen , Health Action International (HAI) Europe, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
“All those with an interest in public health need to be very worried about the Intellectual Property enforcement agenda. Some of the enforcement initiatives developed under the guise of ‘anti-counterfeiting’ moves, will in reality hamper the legitimate trade in generics and as a result pose a serious threat to access to essential medicines in developing countries.”

Hans Marius Graasvold , the Consumer Council of Norway, Oslo (Norway)
“Technological development and the Internet have empowered consumers in terms of increased choice of goods and services, and new ways of communication. However, enforcement initiatives by owners of copyright increasingly interfere with the way consumers enjoy the Internet as well as their basic rights, such as due process, consumer privacy and the principle of proportionality. A recent example is the ‘graduated response’ method, which may include use of undue surveillance of consumers and cutting of Internet access in cases of suspicion of copyright infringement. This resolution sends out a clear message on behalf of European and North American consumers that basic consumer rights must be fully respected when seeking to protect and enforce copyright.”

Jill Johnstone , Consumer Focus, London (UK)
“Too often governments and industry have reached for new enforcement tools to tackle the challenges posed by the internet rather than the development of new business models.  It is essential that proposals for online enforcement of IPRs clearly distinguish between commercial and non-commercial infringement and respect fundamental human rights.”

Eddan Katz , Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), San Francisco, CA (US)
“The effective enforcement of intellectual property depends on the legitimacy of law and the balance of rights. The global push by incumbent multi-national corporations for lopsided regulation to protect their business models negotiated behind closed doors is undermining public confidence in the important fight to protect consumers against counterfeiting and piracy. We call for responsible policymaking on IP enforcement based on empirical evidence and meaningful public debate, especially at this pivotal moment of technological innovation. The future of the knowledge economy for the benefit of many rather than the few is what is at stake in the wrong direction now taken by our trade negotiators.”

Anne-Catherine Lorrain , TACD, Brussels (Belgium)
“The TACD Resolution is important to place the debate of “IP enforcement” in its general context, addressing the legitimate concerns of both right holders and consumers. This resolution shows how consumers are concerned about those issues, and wish to make their voice heard on both sides of the Atlantic. How could policy-makers ignore this?”

James Love , Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), Washington, DC (US)
“Lawmakers often give speeches about the need for tougher enforcement of intellectual property rules, as if this is a simple topic.  The TACD resolution provides a detailed framework to evaluate such proposals, dealing explicitly with dozens of important and complex topics that really matter.  If the enforcement of intellectual property is important, law makers would do well to read this timely and thoughtful TACD resolution, and use it to evaluate any new global norms or national policies.”

Ed Mierzwinski , Consumer Program Director U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), Washington, DC (US)
“The public should be outraged that powerful rightsholders, including drug companies and various content publishers, have asked governments to use secretive trade and treaty processes to eliminate access to medicines and knowledge and possibly criminalize normal behavior.”

Marco Pierani , Altroconsumo, Rome (Italy)
“Continuing to elaborate new and increasingly invasive forms of copyright enforcement is unacceptable for consumers. The challenge we are facing today goes far beyond the evident need to combat the so called digital and multimedia “piracy”. It consists instead in finding a shared approach for restoring to normality a market sector that lost its way some time ago, and that needs to innovate its structures, safeguarding the great opportunities represented by the Internet in terms of development of freedom of information, democratic participation and efficiency of the market.”

Rashmi Rangnath , Public Knowledge, Washington, DC (US)
“The release of the TACD resolution on enforcement coincides with the USTR’s recent announcement to seek greater public input in the ACTA process. We hope that the United States government will consider the recommendations laid out in the TACD resolution in formulating a new policy based on transparency.”

Kostas Rossoglou , European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC), Brussels (Belgium)
“BEUC calls on decision makers in Brussels not to give in to the wish of the content industry to apply draconian measures to enforce intellectual property rights, including criminalization of consumers. Applying enforcement measures that do not take into account the crucial difference between commercial scale infringers operating for profit and individual citizens is, at a minimum, disproportionate. Such practices fail to comply with fundamental rights and freedoms, namely the freedom of expression, the right of confidentiality of communications, the right to privacy, the right to due process, the presumption of innocence and the right of defense.”

Editors Note:
 
TACD consists of EU and U.S. consumer organizations that develop joint consumer policy recommendations for the EU and U.S. in an effort to promote the consumer interest in transatlantic policymaking. TACD’s network of 80 EU and U.S. national consumer organizations has a direct paid-up membership of some 20 million consumers. For more information, please visit www.tacd.org.