The draft of the Agreement, which is said to be close to final, comes after a series of meetings between representatives of 37 countries over a period of some three years.
IP rights owners have broadly welcomed the negotiations, and the first responses from IP groups to the latest draft have been positive, though there remain concerns about the lack of emerging markets included in the negotiations.
There are also some indications that rights owners would have liked the draft agreement to go further in raising IP protection.
Alan C Drewsen, executive director, INTA:
We are pleased to see that significant progress has been made in Tokyo, and we congratulate the negotiators for their dedication and hard work. Counterfeiting is an enormous problem that poses both economic and social risks to countries across the globe. The ACTA negotiations have been an important step in addressing those threats. As we review...