Eight countries, including South Korea, the U.S., Japan and the EU, have signed an agreement in Tokyo to combat counterfeiting and piracy.

The agreement is the result of multilateral negotiations between 11 countries to protect intellectual property rights, which began in June 2008. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was tentatively signed in November last year.

The signing ceremony was attended by South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and representatives from seven other countries that completed domestic procedures to bring the agreement into effect.

The South Korean government said that the agreement will further boost the intellectual property right treaty of the World Trade Organization.