TorrentFreak

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) in the European Parliament have just confirmed that they will reject ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Leader of the Alliance, Guy Verhofstadt, said that while supporting the protection of intellectual property rights, ALDE believes that ACTA falls short on a number of counts.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a treaty aimed at harmonizing global copyright enforcement, is now weaving its way through the various committees of the European Parliament. Its final vote could come as early as June 11th. “The first committee to file a recommendation, the Industry, Research and Energy committee (ITRE), has just published their draft opinion [...]

The European Parliament’s international trade committee has rejected a proposal by David Martin, an MEP who is drafting the Parliament’s position on ACTA. Martin wanted to ask the European Court of Justice for its opinion on the controversial anti-piracy treaty, but the committee decided yesterday that wasn’t needed and will now vote in June on whether to approve ACTA. Opponents of the treaty see the development as a victory.

A key player in Australia’s negotiations to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) revealed itself last Monday and surprisingly it wasn’t News Ltd, the US Embassy in Canberra or even a reigning political party. The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade emerged as ACTA’s cheerleader-in-chief in Australia, trumpeting the benefits of the treaty before a rare open federal parliamentary committee.

The European Commission says it is referring the ACTA anti-piracy treaty to the European Union’s top court. The Court of Justice will be asked to assess whether ACTA is incompatible with the EU’s fundamental rights and freedoms including freedom of expression and information. An ECJ ruling should “cut through this fog of uncertainty” says the EU’s trade chief.

The controversial ACTA treaty is quickly losing support in Europe. After a handful of countries already backed off last week, The Netherlands and Bulgaria put their decisions of hold today. A majority of the Parliament is against the ratification of ACTA. They only intend to change this position if there’s irrefutable evidence that it doesn’t [...]

Following the massive protests against ACTA yesterday, EU Parliament President Martin Schulz criticized the treaty on national television. “I don’t find it good in its current form,” he told ARD. The president added that the balance between copyright protection and the rights of Internet users is “not adequately anchored in this agreement.” Together with the [...]