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ACTA copyright pact to go public

Negotiators will publish first officially released draft of trade agreement designed to harmonize copyright enforcement around the world.

David Meyer Special to CNET News.com

Negotiators on Wednesday will publish the first officially released draft of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a new treaty designed to harmonize copyright enforcement around the world.

The decision to release the consolidated draft on April 21 was made at the eighth round of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations, which took place this week in Wellington, New Zealand. So far, the only publicly available information on the negotiating countries' proposals and amendments have been leaked documents purporting to be drafts of the agreement.

"There was a general sense from this session that negotiations have now advanced to a point where making a draft text available to the public will help the process of reaching a final agreement," the participants said in a joint statement on Friday.

Read more of "Acta copyright enforcement treaty to go public" at ZDNet UK.