RETHINKING THE ANTI-COUNTERFEITING TRADE AGREEMENT'S CRIMINAL COPYRIGHT ENFORCEMENT MEASURES

A few developed countries have secretly initiated and negotiated the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The ACTA is aimed at enhancing international copyright and trademark enforcement measures. This Article analyses the copyright dimension of ACTA, considering its various provisions and the rationale behind them. The Article does so by thoroughly examining the complex intersection of intellectual property law and criminal law. The Article then draws a few major conclusions and makes contributions to the area of copyright law: it shows how the ACTA in fact merely mimics the U.S. approach towards criminal enforcement of copyright law. Second, and more importantly, it illustrates how the ACTA initiative is therefore flawed in light of the U.S. experience to date with criminal enforcement of copyright law. Lastly, the Article makes a normative contribution by suggesting a better, education-based approach concerning criminal enforcement of copyright law.