14 DAY TRIAL // All those protests are showing their effects and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) seems to be going down, slowly, but surely. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) have made public the fact that they will reject ACTA.
“Although we unambiguously support the protection of intellectual property rights, we also champion fundamental rights and freedoms. We have serious concerns that ACTA does not strike the right balance,” said Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE group leader.
"We remain supportive of multilateral efforts to protecting intellectual property rights but ones based on a sectoral approach and a transparent and publicly discussed mandate."
Speaking on behalf of his organization, Verhofstadt believes that the trading of physical goods can’t be treated in the same way as the one of digital services.
Furthermore, since the countries that are mostly responsible for supplying counterfeit products are not part of the agreement, it’s not certain that it will have the effect its creators are looking for.