ACTA battle fought out on Twitter

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

ACTA battle fought out on Twitter

As the European Parliament hosted a workshop on ACTA yesterday, activists on both sides of the debate took to social media site Twitter to present their case

In a series of tweets, the European Commission confirmed that the treaty will be referred to the Court of Justice of the EU. Commissioner Karel De Gucht took part in the workshop.

Supporters of ACTA, including the International Trademark Association (INTA), were also present. This caused some confusion in the twittersphere, as one of the European Parliament committees is also known as INTA.

INTA (the association) tweeted: “Commissioner Karel De Gucht ‘#ACTA is a defense on your livelihood’.”

Among opponents of ACTA on twitter were Howard Knopf and Michael Geist. Knopf tweeted: “Chairman of EU INTA meeting threatens to expel those who applauded very critical and forceful presentation on #ACTA by @mgeist.”

Geist explained his objections to the agreement concisely: “1. Process concerns: lack of transparency, damage to int'l institutions (ie. WIPO, WTO) & dev countries.”

The Open Rights Group, which was also present at the workshop, tweeted: “ORG's Javier Ruiz asks: 'how does ACTA affect Commission's roadmap for IPRED review, especially clarifying commercial scale'.”

Other groups were more forthright. The group Anonymous posted: “EuroCommission's #DeGucht fails at Internet. Who let this man try to regulate it? Get a twitter & get back to us #ACTA.”

The detail of the question the European Commission will refer to the Court of Justice will not be known until at least later this month. It also remains to be seen whether the European Parliament will join the Commission, or file a separate question.

You can follow the debate on twitter using the hashtag #ACTA. Opponents of the agreement often also use the hashtag #StopACTA.

Follow Managing IP on Twitter at @managingip and @internetip.

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Moore & Van Allen hires former Teva counsel Larry Rickles to help expand the firm’s life sciences capabilities
Canadian law firms should avoid ‘tunnel vision’ as exclusive survey reveals client dissatisfaction with risk management advice and value-added services
In major recent developments, the CoA ruled on director liability for patent infringement, and Nokia targeted Paramount at the UPC and in Germany
Niri Shan, the newly appointed head of IP for UK, Ireland and the Middle East, explains why the firm’s international setup has brought UPC success, and addresses German partner departures
Vlad Stanese joins our ‘Five minutes with’ series to discuss potentially precedent-setting trademark and copyright cases and his love for aviation
Heath Hoglund, president of Via LA, discusses how it sets royalty rates and its plans to build on growth in China
Stobbs stands accused of interfering with the administration of justice after Brandsmiths’ client was subjected to an interim injunction for unjustified threats
The firm, known for its prosecution expertise, discusses its plans following the appointment of a UK-based patent litigation head and two new partners
Ed White at Clarivate provides an exclusive insight into the innovation power clusters reshaping Europe and the Middle East’s IP landscape, and why quality is the new currency of invention
In the first in a new podcast series celebrating the tenth anniversary of IP Inclusive, we look back at the network’s origins and discuss its mission
Gift this article