The following is a letter that was sent on November 3, 2009 to President Obama, asking that the negotiations regarding ACTA be made more transparent.

While the letter was sent on November 3, 2009, people may add their names to the online version of the petition, by sending a note to Malini Aisola at transparency@keionline.org

For more background on ACTA and the disputes over transparency, see

• KEI website on ACTA

By James Love, on July 31st, 2009

On Thursday, July 30, 2009, the White House office of the United States Trade Representative denied release of 4 new proposals for text that were circulated in July to “all countries” in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations. The request was limited to documents that were prepared in the past 90 days for purpose of discussion at the July 2009 ACTA negotiating meeting held in Morocco.

USTR located 4 such documents, but denied the FOIA request under 5 USC 552(b)(1). The specific exception cited reads as follows:

The PAHO negotiations on the R&D resolution has produced a new draft, which radically guts the provision on transparency of pharmaceutical industry economics.

The US opposed this language:

“(j) to develop, with input from Member States, a possible standard for disclosure of economic data for drug registered for sale, including disclosures of the costs of R&D, the prices of products, and the annual revenues from the sale of products.”

The US agreed to this language:

The decision to restart the ACTA negotiations makes it important to understand the nature and consequence of proposed agreement. Following a complaint about transparency, this note focuses on damages and injunctions.