<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>Hi Luis,<br><br></div>A good (recommended to me) summary has been released by the Canadian Centre of Policy alternatives. [1]<br><br></div>Here in Brussels, I am sitting currently on a desk next to the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue [2] who follow international trade agreements from an IPR perspective. They've been very helpful in making it possible for me keeping to keep an eye on this. It is a structure in which organisations like the EFF and BEUC (European Consumer Protection Association) are participating. Among EDRi members, the most active organisation following this right now is probably Bits of Freedom from the Netherlands. Generally, I would expect any actions to be formed around these actors. <br><br>I will make sure I keep you up to date about things in the pipeline. <br><br></div><div>Dimi<br></div><div><br></div><div>[1]<a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2014/09/Making_Sense_of_the_CETA.pdf">https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2014/09/Making_Sense_of_the_CETA.pdf</a> <br>[2]<a href="http://tacd.org/">http://tacd.org/</a> <br></div><div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">2014-10-01 23:43 GMT+02:00 Luis Villa <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:lvilla@wikimedia.org" target="_blank">lvilla@wikimedia.org</a>></span>:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Oct 1, 2014 at 8:14 AM, Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dimitar.parvanov.dimitrov@gmail.com" target="_blank">dimitar.parvanov.dimitrov@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"><br></span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">What happened?</span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"><br></span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">The consolidated text of the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA) was released last week. [9] It contains chapters on IPR and e-commerce and rules on data protection. It talks a lot about Digital Rights Management, a circumvention prohibition thereof and a prohibition on software that can be used to circumvent DRM. It also has an article on IPR enforcement (Article 18), which foresees the seizure of property on alleged infringers, including blocking of bank accounts and assets. This sounds a lot like ACTA (I’d say about 80 percent of the text is identical). It is also intriguing, because we still have not harmonised copyright and enforcement rules in the EU, raising the question on what grounds the Commission is negotiating this with Canada. </span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"><br></span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">There’s also a so-called “follow the money” approach for pursuing infringers who knowingly violate copyright law. They can be asked to pay compensations which would include alleged lost profits.</span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"><br></span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"><br></span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">What comes next?</span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"><br></span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">The major question here is, if this treaty is out of scope for the European Commission. If it touches upon policies which are not the exclusive competence of the EU, it would have to be ratified by the European Parliament, the Council and the parliaments of the 28 Member States. If it falls within EU law an okay from the Parliament and Council would be enough. </span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"><br></span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">It is also important in light of the talks on a similar EU-US trade agreement (TTIP). The negotiation logic in free trade agreements is that if you offer something to Canada, you’ll have to offer at least the same conditions to the USA.</span></blockquote></div><br>Is there any good commentary/summary elsewhere on the details of this? And are any of the activist groups trying to organize around it?<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br><br clear="all"><div>Luis</div>-- <br><div dir="ltr">Luis Villa<br>Deputy General Counsel<br>Wikimedia Foundation<br><a href="tel:415.839.6885%20ext.%206810" value="+14158396885" target="_blank">415.839.6885 ext. 6810</a><br><div><br></div><div><i><font size="1">This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you have received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about the mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical reasons I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. 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