Hollywood Pushing EU To Sign ACTA Before It Has A Chance To Study The Legal Implications

from the but-of-course... dept

Fri, May 6th 2011 11:11am — Mike Masnick

Michael Geist points us to the news that a bunch of lobbyists (mostly driven by Hollywood interests, it appears) are pressuring the European Parliament to just sign ACTA already. It appears that they're realizing that there's growing opposition to ACTA and serious concerns by some in the Parliament about just how much of an impact ACTA will have, and (most importantly) whether or not ACTA itself conforms with European law. The letter takes the usual IP bully tact of making totally ridiculous claims, such as saying that not signing it now would mean that it would "weaken the position of the EU viv-a-vis its international trading partners."

That, of course, makes absolutely no sense. Making sure a treaty (and yes, the Europeans, unlike the Americans, are willing to admit that it's a treaty) does not violate consumer rights or other laws seems like a prudent step to take. It seems odd that Hollywood lobbyists could possibly be against that. The only comprehensible reason to be against it is if you know that ACTA won't actually pass muster on review. Separately, I'm wondering just how it will weaken the EU's position with trading partners? Who exactly? Who's going to cut back on trading with the EU because it wants to make sure of the impact of ACTA? No one. Hopefully, most in the EU Parliament got a good chuckle out of this and moved on...

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Filed Under: acta, eu, hollywood
Companies: mpaa

16 Comments

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Ccomp5950 (profile), 6 May 2011 @ 11:10am

EU tends to have a somewhat anti-US companies sentiment, I don't see this going far.

Hopefully they see through the lobbyists and actually see the companies backing them.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 May 2011 @ 11:22am

"most in the EU Parliament got a good chuckle out of this and moved on"

Yes most, everyone except the Germans
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Dark Helmet (profile), 6 May 2011 @ 12:01pm

"such as saying that not signing it now would mean that it would "weaken the position of the EU viv-a-vis its international trading partners"

Uh huh. I can just see individual nations of the world now throwing up their hands.

"They won't sign ACTA? Pshhh! let's not trade with that entire fucking continent!"

What a joke....
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Anonymous Coward, 6 May 2011 @ 12:04pm

It's so secret that letting anyone know what is in it can't be done. So now it's down to the signing. A treaty that isn't a treaty on trade agreement that isn't going to require law changes...unless you sign it.

You can see what the whole problem with ACTA is from the start. It's only the IP companies that benefit from the treaty and no one else. This is part of the reason it was so secret in the forming. It was such a stinker of a treaty that anyone who had the public's interest in mind not only wasn't invited but were not to be allowed any input at all.

I can only hope the EU along with the rest fail to agree to sign it.

At some point, the presidential executive powers will come to a screeching halt when the laws in the US need to be modified to fit this porker.
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Mr. Oizo, 6 May 2011 @ 12:08pm

Re:
Yeah, they got bought up after the war. And so did the health insurance system here in Germany.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 May 2011 @ 12:41pm

I think part of the worry here is that the presidential elections are coming in a while and Hollywood doesn't know if Obama will be re-elected and if not they don't know how much the next president will support ACTA. So it's safer to get the bill passed while they still can.

BTW, vote for Ron Paul.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 6 May 2011 @ 12:47pm

Re:
Wait...you're suggesting that Hollywood is worried Obama might not get reelected?

Then they're idiots. Between recent events, the reemerging economy, and the general statistics with incumbent politicians, there's no percentage in planning for Obama not to get reelected.

Disclaimer: I'm not much of an Obama supporter.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 May 2011 @ 12:52pm

Re: Re:
I'm saying they would rather not take their chances.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 6 May 2011 @ 1:11pm

Re: Re: Re:
Fair enough. History suggests they don't have much to worry about there, though....
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Anonymous Coward, 6 May 2011 @ 2:01pm

Conspiracy theory of the day
Separately, I'm wondering just how it will weaken the EU's position with trading partners? Who exactly? Who's going to cut back on trading with the EU because it wants to make sure of the impact of ACTA? No one.

No one publicly, I suppose. But perhaps this missive wasn't meant to be taken at face value. Perhaps there is secret, even illegal, trading going on, which Hollywood (on whoever's behalf) is obliquely threatening to have stopped.
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That Anonymous Coward, 6 May 2011 @ 3:55pm

Re: Conspiracy theory of the day
Maybe Hollywood will take action and refuse to release Big Momma's House XXIV in the EU until they sign. If they do that, I might need to move....
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Pixelation, 6 May 2011 @ 7:11pm

Well this will show if the EU parliament is run by a bunch of idiots or not.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 May 2011 @ 8:03pm

Let's put this into test if we truly live in a democracy or not and it's a time to prove it.
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PaulT (profile), 7 May 2011 @ 4:37am

Re:
Sadly, that's actually what they could think of doing - witness their threats regarding Spain... People are pirating too much while not technically violating local laws! If they won't trade, we won't sell to them at all (unlike, say, offering services along the lines of Netflix and Hulu in a market that's starved of such access).
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bikey, 7 May 2011 @ 5:04am

Re:
It's silly to think anyone would worry about obama not getting elected, but even if he didn't, there's no republican with a pulse (yes, I know) who would thwart corporate america, of which hollywood is a prime component.
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Hephaestus (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 8:32am

Re: Re:
What are you saying? he will get reelected, or that he won't get reelected? The end of the second line ... "there's no percentage in planning for Obama not to get reelected." ... confused the hell out of me.
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