TOKYO, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Nearly 40 nations on Saturday reached basic agreement in international trade talks aimed at reducing copyright and trademark theft that causes losses of billions of dollars annually.
One of the key features of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) will mandate that customs officials have "ex officio" authority to seize counterfeit goods without a request from the rights holders or a court order, according to statements from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
Future topics include trying to expand the number of ACTA participants to include China, source of a large amount of the world's pirated goods, as well as the rest of Asia and other regions, such as the Middle East.
But no specific reference was made to coverage of European place names, such as Parma or Roquefort, as the 27 nations of the European Union had called for.
The EU wanted the agreement to cover "geographical indicators", which are names for food and alcoholic products drawn from a particular location, such Champagne or Cognac, both in France.
But U.S. business groups had worried that the EU demand would mean American products as commonplace as Kraft parmesan cheese could potentially be treated as illegal items under the pact and subject to seizure by customs officials.
The United States recognizes geographical indicators that have been trademarked, but not the full gamut of food and beverage names the EU wants to protect.
U.S. movie, music, software and other copyright-based industries calculate they lose more than $16 billion in sales each year from pirated versions of their products sold around the world.
The talks involved the United States, the European Union and its 27 member states, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Switzerland, and two developing countries -- Morocco and Mexico.