ACTA

05/15/2012

Washington, D.C. – As part of World Trade Month, at an event to highlight the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement taking effect today, Ambassador Ron Kirk announced the beginning of USTR’s 50th anniversary celebration. He said:

“World Trade Month is particularly special for me and my team, because this year we mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of USTR.

Ambassador Kirk issued the following statement regarding today’s signing ceremony for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA):

“We are pleased that the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is the product of close cooperation between the United States and Japan.

“Since the beginning of this negotiation, our two countries have worked together to develop the concept, bring other key countries into the process, and conclude a high-standard agreement among all the parties that will protect our creators and innovators.

Ambassador Miriam Sapiro
Deputy United States Trade Representative 

Agreement will protect American jobs in innovative and creative industries

Tokyo, Japan- The United States and seven other countries signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) at a ceremony today in Tokyo, marking an important step forward in the international fight against trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (“ACTA” or the “Agreement”) signed today meets the key U.S. objectives for the ACTA negotiations. In particular, a core U.S. objective was to create an agreement that fosters increased leadership in the international fight against counterfeiting and piracy. Today’s Agreement establishes that leadership. It brings together a significant group of trading partners, all of whom share an interest in effective enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs), in support of a strengthened international standard for IPR enforcement.

Tokyo, Japan – Today representatives from Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United States reaffirmed their commitment to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement at a Tokyo signing ceremony hosted by the Government of Japan.

ACTA will create a first-of-its-kind alliance of trading partners representing more than half of world trade to cooperate in the fight against piracy and counterfeiting.

ACTA provides a platform for the Obama Administration to work cooperatively with other governments to continue delivering on its commitment to protect aggressively the intellectual property that is essential to America’s prosperity.

Washington, D.C. – Participants in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations announced today that they have finalized the text of the Agreement, after resolving the few issues that remained outstanding after the final round of negotiations in Tokyo.

The participants are now publishing the finalized text of the agreement. Following legal verification of the drafting, the proposed agreement will then be ready to be submitted to the participants’ respective authorities to undertake relevant domestic processes.

Following the 11th and final round of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations, held in Tokyo from September 23-October 2, trading partners representing more than fifty percent of world trade developed and released draft text for what will be the highest-standard plurilateral agreement ever achieved concerning the enforcement of intellectual property rights.

Process

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk today welcomed public release of the text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) following the conclusion of the final round of negotiations in Tokyo, Japan, on October 2.