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    Anti-Piracy Agreement ACTA is Falling Apart in Europe

    By Alex Fitzpatrick | Mashable – Tue, Feb 14, 2012

    Bulgaria won't be ratifying the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) any time soon.

    On Tuesday, Bulgaria followed some of its European neighbors, including Germany and Poland, in halting approval of the controversial intellectual property treaty.

    [More from Mashable: Greece Takes to Twitter and YouTube as Riots Consume Athens]

    Bulgaria will "practically stop its participation" until it sees a clear and unified European stance on the treaty, according to Traicho Traikov, the Bulgarian economy and energy minister.

    "I'm a pessimist when it comes to regulating an industry, which hasn't adapted to the digital age, through sanctions rather than market means," Traikov told the press, according to Bloomberg.

    [More from Mashable: Iran Reportedly Blocking Internet]

    Meanwhile, ACTA also stalled in the Dutch parliament. Lawmakers in Holland want time to examine the treaty's potential effects on Internet privacy before moving forward with ratification, reported Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

    The decisions by Bulgaria and the Netherlands come after anti-ACTA protests spread across Europe over the weekend. Thousands of people in nearly 200 cities took to the streets to protest the treaty.

    SEE ALSO: What is ACTA? | ACTA 'Is More Dangerous Than SOPA'

    ACTA was written by the U.S. and Japan in 2006 to provide countries with a new way to cooperate on counterfeiting and intellectual property investigations.

    However, opponents say the treaty was negotiated largely in secret and could have disastrous consequences for free speech and an open, international Internet. ACTA has also been criticized for bypassing existing international trade groups, such as the World Trade Organization.

    Eight countries have signed ACTA, but none have ratified it. Six countries will need to ratify the treaty for it to activate.

    Image courtesy of iStockphoto, kparis

    This story originally published on Mashable here.

     

    5 comments

    • Jerry D
      Jerry D  •  3 mths ago
      ACTA has got to go. thanks for standing up. now maybe a lot of other spineless people will stand up also. They are correct. US and Japan need to drop all the #$%$
    • Patrick
      Patrick  •  Hamburg, Germany  •  3 mths ago
      ACTA is a measure that runs fully in the face of existing GATT agreements on copyrights. The folks behind this won't endorse GATT so they attempt to make this 'Trade' agreement a measure of their 'worth'. How about declaring a satyagraha of non cooperation by refusing to purchase any movies or music from the industries that pursue and prosecute their own clients. Talk about insanity.
    • Gary
      Gary  •  3 mths ago
      It would be excellent to post the names and addresses of those individuals and companies who 'drafted', 'delivered to legislators', along with those 'legislators who signed on' to these insidiously secretive bills.
      Direct harassment works like, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"... instead of silently getting shafted.
      Copyright laws need to be changed more like "Patent Laws" where there is a REASONABLE time limit until it becomes public domain, (except credit to the copywriter after expiration when no profit is involved). Imagine how primitive our lives would be if inventors could extend their patents for the "Life of the inventor PLUS 150 YEARS"! We'd still be living in the dark ages.
    • Comp Geek
      Comp Geek  •  Denver, Colorado  •  3 mths ago
      Yay!
    • GamrNrd77
      GamrNrd77  •  3 mths ago
      SOPA fell, PIPA fell, ACTA will fall.
     Post a comment
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