WIPO and the ACTA threat. (1st January 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bannerman, Sara
• Is Part Of: International journal of technology policy and law. Volume 1:Number 1(2012)
• Page Start: 3
• Page End: 14
• Publication Date: 2012-01-01
• Subjects: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement -- ACTA -- World Intellectual Property Organization -- WIPO -- intellectual property -- intellectual property history -- Universal Copyright Convention -- UCC -- Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property -- TRIPs -- international institutions; Technology and law -- Periodicals; Technology and state -- Periodicals; 344.09505
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1742-4240

Abstract

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been seen as a potentially existential threat to the existing World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The ACTA threat to WIPO has a number of predecessors. WIPO's centrality to international intellectual property norm-setting encountered its first major challenge in 1952 when the Universal Copyright Convention was established under UNESCO. It encountered a second major challenge with the establishment of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (the TRIPs Agreement). The ACTA challenge thus potentially represents a third instance where a major competing norm-setting institution has challenged WIPO. This paper outlines the main proposals for an ACTA institution, the various possible forms that an ACTA-WIPO relationship could take, and various strategies that WIPO could use to maintain its role in the international intellectual property system. Finally, it reviews a number of public policy concerns that the institutional proposals for ACTA pose.