WTO Awards Caribbean Country Right to Ignore US Copyright

The WTO's recent ruling on Antigua's complaint against the US over the banning of online gambling resulted in a payment to the island nation much less than they asked for. It appears, though, that this payment was just part of the WTO's compensation package for Antigua/Barbuda. Via Kotaku, the Hollywood Reporter notes that the Caribbean country can now freely ignore US copyright laws - legally. This dispensation is apparently limited to some $21 million a year. "The WTO often takes decisions awarding trade compensation in cases where one nation's policies are found to break its rules. But this is only the second time the compensation lets one country violate intellectual property laws. In this case, Antigua will -- in theory -- be allowed to distribute copies of American DVDs, CDs and games and software with impunity. 'That has only been done once before and is, I believe, a very potent weapon,' Antigua's lawyer Mark Mendel said. 'I hope that the United States government will now see the wisdom in reaching some accommodation with Antigua over this dispute.'"

yea,,

[Heem]

Under this administration, The WTO and Antiguan people are now terrorists. Prepare for us to spend 1 billion dollars a day in taxpayer funds to attack you now.

A whole new market

[decowboy]

for web hosting

A victory for internet users worldwide

[The One and Only]

Either online gambling is legalized and we win, or we can legally download movies, music, and software from Antigua, and we win. Huzzah for the WTO!

Hah.

[Anonymous Coward]

Attacking recognition of US copyright and patent monopolies is a good way to rein in the USA on an international level. A large chunk of the US economy is now "intangibles", basically fairy dust. To really tank the US economy (only a good thing for the rest of us, despite self-deluding crap in the US about how the rest of the world needs the US to "buy their stuff" - sure, just like black ants need a bunch of lazy-ass red ants lording it over them...), complete lack of recognition of US copyrights and patents would go a long way.

differs from status quo how?

[Anonymous Coward]

US copyrights are *already* widely ignored. How is this any different?

Re:A victory for internet users worldwide

[ByOhTek]

not quite, as a downloader, you still answer to your local authorities. So if I decide to download a copy of Windows Vista from an Antiguian server, I could get in trouble (it's not legal for me to do), but the server's hosts would not.

Still this strikes me as an odd penalty. If I go and rob a bank, do you put my children in jail? Yes, I would be upset at that, and it would be a deterrent for me, but at the same time, the children did nothing wrong - you should be jailing me.

They are punishing the US by allowing people to take the works of it's authors, actors, software developers, etc. without compensating them. Yes it punishes the government, but it punishes people completely unrelated to the action even further.

Re:yea,,

[lluBdeR]

I doubt that'll happen, they don't have any oil. [indexmundi.com]

Re:A victory for internet users worldwide

[visualight]

That's pretty much what sanctions do. But I guess it's okay when the U.S. does it though.

Re:abandonment of sovereignty?

[visualight]

So because the "majority" of horse racing gambling is in the states that makes it a protective tariff to outlaw ALL forms of online poker

Yep

Re:A victory for internet users worldwide

[Dolohov]

This is the case with any trade sanctions -- steel tariffs technically only hurt steel producers, not the US government. The point is that they are intended to cause problems for a group with strong lobbying powers, who will then in turn pressure the government to change its ways. If Antigua were to raise steel tariffs, however, they would suffer from higher steel prices, and could then be forced by the US to back down (particularly since they are a small country whose steel input is minimal). By allowing IP exemptions instead, Antigua does not risk being forced by the US to back down.

Re:I bet the Mafiaa Won't Like That

[betterunixthanunix]

Please, the WTO can't punish the US by letting a pipsqueak country like Antigua live without our copyright laws. I doubt that there is enough IT infrastructure in Antigua as a whole for anyone to serve more than 100000-500000 users at a time, which is barely a thorn in the industry's side (remember, Kazaa, at its height, had 60000000 users and the RIAA reported a record profit). If the WTO really wanted to hurt the US, they would have to grant the same freedom to a country that carries more weight, like China or Russia (countries that already have problems with black-market IP violations; just imagine an open market for US software, music and movies).

What this really represents is a message to the US: the WTO is not afraid to use IP laws to penalize us if we try and bully other countries. The member states of the WTO are not happy that the US can basically run free, so they just wanted to remind us that there is a system in place that can overrule America's policies. I personally view that as a good thing, since the US keeps using its position as the single most powerful nation in the world to push various agendas on other nations.

Re:abandonment of sovereignty?

[Jeremy Erwin]

Yep. The existance of online horse gambling demonstrates that the US really doesn't have a morals problem with online gaming. So, if there's no moral objection, that leaves protectionism, which is a no-no under WTO rules.

Ignore the GPL too?

[Danathar]

I guess this means the GPL is also null and void there as well.

Not that I'm trying to be a Troll, just a random thought that crossed my mind as interesting.

Re:yea,,

[HeLLFiRe1151]

Once the bombing starts... 'I hope that the Antigua government will now see the wisdom in reaching some accommodation with United States over this dispute.'

Re:yea,,

[sm62704]

Oh the irony (when attached to your sig)!

Under this administration, The WTO and Antiguan people are now terrorists. Prepare for us to spend 1 billion dollars a day in taxpayer funds to attack you now.
--
Enjoy Freedom? - Register as Republican

Methinks ye needs a new sig. Avast! Shiver me timbers! Ye be walkin' the plankk thar, matey!

Re:So how does this work?

[m4ximusprim3]

"Judge: You see, we know this guy owes you money and doesn't want to pay it, but he's really well connected and we can't do anything about it. In return we will garnish his wages untill you're paid what you're owed" There, fixed that for you. Courts do it all the time.

Re:abandonment of sovereignty?

[zzsmirkzz]

The bill of rights, silly. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. Basically, it was supposed to be that if the power wasn't expressly granted to the Federal Government in the Constitution, than it was left to the States to decide individually, or the people.

Re:abandonment of sovereignty?

[vajrabum]

You could call it abandonment of sovereignty but it was done our government with a really complicated multilateral trade treaty (GATT or General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade started by the US) that established the WTO as the arbiter of disputes. Since Article VI, paragraph 2 of the constitution says: "all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution [of any State] or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." The main point here is that GATT was started by the US to promote "free" trade. Of course, some people (read multinational coporations) are more free than others. So, yes in order to get something, essentially a leveler playing field for American business we've (the presumably US multinationals) have given something--a portion of US sovereignty ceded by treaty to the WTO. If you don't like it, it's pretty much tough. We'd be screwed economically without it since all of our trade policy is built around it.

Re:abandonment of sovereignty?

[eebra82]

Since when did "free trade" translate into an abandonment of sovereignty in favor of having an unelected global organization dictate national policy? If the people of the United States (or any country) want to ban online gambling then what business of the WTO is it? At least when the WTO steps in over protective tariffs that makes SOME sense. If a product is completely outlawed though, how the hell is a free trade issue?

You haven't been following this issue. Countries can prohibit trade on moral ground under the WTO. They just can't treat the domestic businesses differently than the foreign ones, which the US does explicitly.

Correct. And I must add that this bill was hardly a decision made by the citizens of the United States, as the first post claims. UIGEA was sneaked into the Safe Port Act. Now let's take a look at what the Safe Port Act mainly includes:

* Additional requirements for maritime facitilties
* Creation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential
* Establishment of interagency operational centers for port security
* Port Security grants
* Container Security Initiative
* Foreign port assessments
* Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism

If it was a choice made by the citizens of the United States, how come this bill was put at the very end of this huge Safe Port Act bill? One that was definitive and would - with almost no doubt - pass through to the pen of George W. Bush? And it's funny that a great supporter of this bill happened to be a large casino corporation somewhere in the United States.. Oops..

Re:Hah.

[es330td]

A large chunk of the US economy is now "intangibles", basically fairy dust...complete lack of recognition of US copyrights and patents would go a long way

I know if it feels good to shoot from the hip but next time you should check your facts. Take a look at the Fortune 500 list of companies. Very few, if any, of the companies in the first 100 would be hurt if any kind of large "IP doesn't apply" judgement were to be handed down. Oil, cars, financial services, insurance and construction make up the top 20 and last time I checked we still can't download gas for our cars or even the car in which to put the gas. Not a single predominantly software or entertainment company (IBM makes money on consulting services and hardware) can be found even in sight of the top of the list. MS, the company everyone loves to hate only makes #49. Cisco is #75, Merck is #99. While it is true that a decent percentage of the US GDP is service related it would take a lot more than something like this to have any impact on the US economy.

Re:abandonment of sovereignty?

[vux984]

It's not our fault or problem that nobody has bothered to setup online horse racing in your country. As long as any horse racing business from these nations is treated the same as a domestic outfit I really fail to see what the problem is.

Nobody made you join the WTO either. Nobody made you agree to the definition of categories of industry. If you'd had the foresight to separate horse racing from online gambling as separate categories this would not be a problem. But these are the rules you agreed to and know you have to play by them if you want to keep playing.

And you DO want to keep playing because the WTO is the force that's preventing Canada from creating a nationalized daycare system. (would prevent american companies from competing in the daycare industry), is forcing Canada to sync copyprotection laws for America's RIAA/Hollywood interests, is preventing Canada from selling subsidized electricity to its own residents because FreeTrade/WTO rules force us to export electricy at the same rates we use it internally, despite that a lot of the energy infrastructure was built by the taxpayer.

And that's just Canada... the US is wielding the WTA/FreeTrade agreements around the globe for its benefit. It benefits far more from them than it loses. For every Antigua there are 30 Canada's. Antigua is just interesting because they've scored a symbolic blow to the US, and in a very public high profile way.

Re:Real Value

[trolltalk.com]

"Now - $21 million may seem like a considerable award. However, according the the RIAA's calculations, this only covers the single "Just a Lil Bit" by artist 50 Cent."

Since the award is to Antigua, and the profits of the award are to compensate Antigua, its the value in/to Antigua that counts. What the **AA thinks something is worth elsewhere is irrelevant.

Don't forget - this is as compensation to Antigua - its the revenue that is generated in or for Antigua that counts, not the "damage" elsewhere. They can use it to generate compensating revenues, up to the $21 million/year mark. If, for example, Microsoft was selling their crippleware for $3/unit in bulk, Antigua can now legally sell up to 7M copies a year at that price.

Re:abandonment of sovereignty?

[argiedot]

Okay, it's like this. The only way you get to ban gambling is if you believe that gambling is morally a bad thing, or if you believe that gambling could damage public order. By allowing some types of gambling, you agree that gambling is not morally a bad thing, and that it is not a danger to order either. Hence, you can't ban gambling, in any form.

Unless, of course, you'd like to argue that betting on horse races is moral while gambling in general is immoral, or that the latter would somehow cause order to break down. However, I don't think any sane person would accept that. I wouldn't.

Re:Hah.

[1001011010110101]

Yes, because of all the things that my country does wrong in the World, banning online gambling ranks at the top of the list of the things we should be "reined in" on.

What the US should be "reined in" on, is to respect the treaties signed, or start loosing the privileges you got from them, and respect the resolutions, even if they are not favourable to them, when they use the resolutions of the same organizations to force others countries to act.

Re:abandonment of sovereignty?

[tshak]

If the people of the United States (or any country) want to ban online gambling then what business of the WTO is it?

It became the WTO's business when we signed a treaty [wikipedia.org] making it thier business.

Re:yea,,

[mr_mischief]

I'll go one better. I'll name six organizations that threaten civilians with violent raids and seizures to further political, ideological, and commercial goals that have not been named terrorists. The US federal government under the current Republican administration and current Democrat-controlled Congress, the MPAA, the RIAA, SCOX, Microsoft, and the Software Business Alliance.

Mod me flamebait without understanding the post if you want, but what I've said is factually true (although fantastically worded). I spun it so to make the spin obvious.

No, I don't think those organizations I named qualify as terrorists. I do think spin is a funny thing to those who understand it and dangerous to those who do not.

Spin is what the people in charge of "leaked" tidbits of information want to use to keep people in control. Don't be sheep, people. Search for factual information and make your own decisions. If you're not getting factual information, then your government and press don't really believe in a free, participatory society. You need true facts to participate properly in your government.

It is interesting, though, that commercial goals are not mentioned in that definition. I guess someone somewhere prefers old-fashioned crime family style organized crime for profit be kept as a separate matter.

Re:I bet the Mafiaa Won't Like That

[UncleTogie]

Which would normally be enough, except that the United States has an imbalance of power, and really can take on almost the entire world at once.

Uh, no.

Dear Servicemember:

We realize that you were due to retire in 2008. However, as we're now fighting EVERYONE, your enlistment has been extended...

...to 2108. Thanks for serving, and have a friendly-fire-free day!

Love, Uncle Sam

Seriously, folks... While I'm as proud as any military brat concerning the amount of rear the US armed forces has the capability to kick, we are NOT at the point where we can take on the world.

Rephrased: How many 12-year-olds could you take on? [mcsweeneys.net]

Re:yea,,

[c6gunner]

It's an experimental algorithm for Slashdot. Each potential moderator is given an IQ test, and a mod point awarded for each question they get wrong. I think they got the idea from the film "Idiocracy". Anyway, so far it's resulted in penis jokes being modded "+500 Funny", and anything even slightly intelligent being modded "-500 Boring". If the new moderation scheme is successfully implemented, the next step will be the banning of all accounts which do not have "Amerikkka Sux" in the their tagline.

Re:Pfft... 21 Million?

[rtb61]

The catch with that is of course there is no such thing as US copyright. Copyright is held by the owner of the copyright and the right is recognised via treaty by all signatory countries. A US performer has copyright in all member countries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Intellectual_Property_Organization_Copyright_Treaty [wikipedia.org]. So basically either WTO is attempting theft against uninvolved third parties (the copyright holders) or Antigua can pirate 21 millions dollars worth of copyright content actually owned by the US government.

Perhaps Antigua can wait for every other signatory of the copyright treaty to also ban online gambling (very likely as the social damage caused by it increases) and then they can finally legally pirate copyrighted content.

Re:Pfft... 21 Million?

[sumdumass]

In a free society, the government doesn't own the property of private organizations and individuals. For all intends and purposes, corporations are private. So yea, what the GP claimed would be true.

I think this will go the way of the wind with trade sanctions and embargoes before it is over. I think we could also expect their Internet connections and communications lines to be hit with a torpedo of some sorts.

But that wouldn't matter anyways, WIPO and the WTO are separate organizations and constructs. Under WIPO treaties, other countries would be banned/prohibited from accepting the pirated property. Well, that is if they want to trade with other countries that expect WIPO agreements to be held up. It may well be that this ruling is only applicable to residents of Antigua. They can steal the Copyrighted material only to sell it to their residents.

Re:Pfft... 21 Million?

[MightyYar]

The savings bond is a great example. At any time, the government could default on that bond... all they have to do is disappear, or for a new government to take power, or just "forget" to pay you.

Government INACTION leads to loss of IP (or copyright if you prefer).

Government ACTION is required for them to deprive you of real property.

Huge difference. People who "lose" IP only had it in the first place because the government gave it to them.

But that's all sort of philosophical. The US gave up some rights when it joined the WTO. Part of the agreement allows sanctions when the US doesn't abide by the rules. Sanctions kind of suck, because as you and others correctly point out they take some collateral damage. In this case, I don't really feel too bad since the RIAA/MPAA/etc are part of the push behind so many international treaties like this. You reap what you sow.