ACTA Draft Text Released: (Nearly) Same As It Ever Was

“As the ACTA negotiating countries promised, a draft
consolidated text was released earlier today. Unlike the earlier
leaked version which provided specific attribution to country
positions, this official version has removed references to those
positions, so the text does not state who supports which version of
the text. Those interested in deciphering that bigger picture,
should look at the official release alongside the leaked version
(text version here).

“While there is still considerable disagreement – lots of square
brackets indicating areas where the text has not achieved consensus
– the countries did make some progress last week in New Zealand.
There will be another round of negotiations in June in Switzerland,
followed by at least two more rounds in the fall. The target
remains the end of 2010 to conclude a deal, but there will still
need to be considerable compromise. Moreover, the continuing
position of the U.S. and E.U. that they will not change their
domestic laws will have to change since there are too many
inconsistencies for both to be right.”

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