ACTA details due April 21, no three-strikes policy includes

The handful of countries negotiating an expansive international copyright treaty will release a draft of their work next week.

The publication of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which has been negotiated in almost total secrecy since 2007, arrives as participating countries prepare to head into the "final stage" of talks, noted the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in a statement on Friday.

U.S. negotiators also revealed this morning that the forthcoming draft will not require Internet service providers (ISPs) to cut Web connections to users who steal music, movies and other forms of protected intellectual property more than three times.

It was once thought this "three-strikes" policy would be part of the original treaty, and would ultimately override U.S. laws that do not require ISPs to punish their customers for their conduct.

However, as the USTR noted in its statement, "While the participants recognise the importance of responding effectively to the challenge of Internet piracy, they confirmed that no participant is proposing to require governments to mandate a ‘graduated response’ or ‘three strikes’ approach to copyright infringement on the Internet."

The absence of that rule likely spells good news to ISPs, seemingly all of which have long resisted the proposed role of Web deputy. And it should satisfy consumers, too, some of whom lashed after a leaked ACTA document suggested negotiators wanted their Internet companies to penalize them for their conduct.

Whether the release of the entire draft satisfies other ACTA critics, however, remains to be seen. Many of the treaty's most vocal opponents have hammered not only the proposed accord's content, but the Obama administration's approach to negotiating it.

Some interest groups fear the White House might negotiate ACTA as an "executive agreement," not an international treaty. The prior approach, which is usually meant for accords that do not alter U.S. law, is possible without Senate ratification. By contrast, a treaty would require the upper chamber's bipartisan approval, which might prove difficult to secure.

Nevertheless, the USTR noted in its statement that negotiations over the agreement would continue into June 2010, with the next round of talks slated to occur as Switzerland. The office added the goal is to conclude ACTA "as soon as possible in 2010," though it offered no other timeline.