ACTA Negotiations - Call for submissions

The following is the call for submissions from the Minister of Commerce on the next round of negotiations of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.  These negotiations have caused some disquiet in the past and it is worth reading the Ministry of Economic Development's background material.

Minister calls for submissions on Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
2 March 2010


Commerce Minister Simon Power is calling for submissions on a range of intellectual property proposals in the digital arena to help develop the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
This is the third round of public consultations on ACTA, and New Zealand will be hosting Round 8 of the ACTA negotiations in Wellington from 12-16 April.
Digital enforcement measures will be one of the topics that will be discussed by delegations from Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Switzerland, Morocco, and the US.
“Intellectual property rights infringement is changing in nature with the development of technology. Therefore, enforcement measures need to be constantly reviewed to ensure they remain effective.
“I encourage interested parties to provide submissions to help set a higher benchmark for the enforcement of intellectual property rights.”

The Ministry of Economic Development’s discussion paper can be found at: http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/MultipageDocumentTOC____42582.aspx

Submissions about digital enforcement can be sent to: trademarks@med.govt.nz

The closing date for submissions is Wednesday 31 March 2010.