On 1 October 2011, in Tokyo, eight states (Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States) sign the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) — the plurilateral treaty on enforcing intellectual property rights against counterfeiting and piracy.

ACTA, opened for signature on 1 May 2011, sets enforcement standards beyond TRIPS: border measures, civil and criminal liability, digital-environment protection. The depositary is the Government of Japan; entry into force after six instruments of ratification.

The EU, Mexico and Switzerland attended without signing immediately. The agreement sparked major protests; the European Parliament rejected it in 2012. It never entered into force on a wide scale.

The official text is published by USTR and Japan’s MOFA.

For international IP law, 1 October 2011 marks the Tokyo signatures.

The document is available on the USTR / MOFA sites.

ACTA of 1 October 2011 remains the milestone — and failure — of plurilateral IPR enforcement.

Image: Tokyo; Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Treaty text: MOFA Japan — ACTA text.