ICC secretary-general Guy Sebban sent a letter on June 5 to ministers from the G8 countries asking them to "commit the resources and political direction necessary" for the Heiligendamm process to work effectively against IP theft and facilitate innovation and economic development.

The Heiligendamm process is a dialogue between the G8 member states and the important emerging economies to deal with the biggest challenges of the global economy.

It was established at last year's summit in Germany and one of its goals is to tackle the issues of product counterfeiting and copyright piracy. But many believe that it has not been effective and more initiatives should be taken.

Sebban asked the ministers to see to it that more work is done as "there has been little indication" that much progress has been made.

The letter asks the G8 leaders to focus on IP protection especially in two regards. These are, first, the need for greater commitment, resources and political direction from the G8 countries for the Heiligendamm process to work and, second, the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

Sebban noted that the summit (which will be held from July 7 to July 9) comes as seven of the eight G8 governments are negotiating the ACTA. Russia is the only one that is not.

"We would hope that one of the key outcomes of the Hokkaido Toyako summit will be a strong, visible commitment to a swift conclusion of an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement that sets new, higher standards for national and international government action to deal with counterfeiting and piracy," he said.