- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
House of Cards Antigua and Barbuda – a nation of 70,000 in an area roughly half the size of San Francisco – has formally requested that the WTO allow it to suspend its intellectual property obligations to the United States, AP reports.
Although many in the US have mocked tiny Antigua’a case against the US with a shrug of the shoulders, the Antiguans have always carried in their pockets a nuclear option of sorts. Most Americans view trade disputes through the prism of tit-for-tat protectionist schemes. A perceived price subsidy leads to retaliatory tariffs, etc; but the obligations imposed by WTO obligations run deeper than that.
Repeated violation of WTO commitments in the face of contrary WTO rulings allows a victimized member country ultimately to suspend its own WTO obligations to the offending nation – a form of restitution much more punitive than tariffs alone. America runs a steady and hefty trade deficit in virtually every category of international trade other than intellectual property.
Were the WTO – with possible European, Japanese, and Chinese support – to allow the Antiguans to suspend all intellectual property obligations to the United States, the American IP industry could face a tiny adversary with an unlimited right to reproduce for its own benefit American IP goods of any kind.
This is no joke – America has done everything it can to stamp out the internet gambling industry, particularly that of Antigua in the three years since Antigua first challenged the US before the international body the US itself worked so hard to create. Antigua originally hoped to develop its ecommerce segment to reduce its dependence on tourism, but, as a result of American interference, in the last few years the Antiguan internet gaming industry has shrunk by about 85 per cent.
And little Antigua is not the only country feeling the pinch. The UK, which has possibly the most well-regulated gambling market in the world – at the very least among the major economies – has sat back and watched as the DOJ has repeatedly arrested UK businessmen and executives.
The idea that other countries will put up with this abuse indefinitely may finally have run its course. Once one country chooses to revise its definitions of its own commitments, as the US claims it will do, other impacted countries may do the same. The only question now is whether the major American trading partners – Europe, Japan, and China – join the party.
Unlimited DRM-free copies of American music, movies, and Microsoft software?
Nice – but you need to name source when you post articles.
I am glad to hear that Antigua has formally requested that the WTO allow it to suspend its intellectual property obligations to the United States.
This should get some attention.
This is one possible source: Antigua targets U.S. on Online Gambling
[QUOTE=I am glad to hear that Antigua has formally requested that the WTO allow it to suspend its intellectual property obligations to the United States.
Dom, thanks for clearing up your position on the theft of intellectual property. Scraping gamesandcasino.com now – thanks for the free content. :rasta:
It’s not theft.
If it happens, it will happen because the WTO and it’s members, countries of the world, rule that Antigua is allowed to remove itself from it’s trade comitments to the US just as the US is removing itself from it’s trade commitments with Antigua.
That is not theft, that is justice. And it will only happen after it goes through channels and gets approved by the nations of the world.
It is absolutely still theft. It can not be spun in any other way. Let’s hope that Antigua is able maintain a level of integrity that the US has clearly abandoned concerning this issue.
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/disp1_e.htm
If after 20 days, no satisfactory compensation is agreed, the complaining side may ask the Dispute Settlement Body for permission to impose limited trade sanctions (“suspend concessions or obligations”) against the other side. The Dispute Settlement Body must grant this authorization within 30 days of the expiry of the “reasonable period of time” unless there is a consensus against the request.
I am not going to quote the rest of the rules, they can be seen on the website. All these countires http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org6_e.htm have to decide on this issue.
I am also not going to quote the timetable, according to which the US is in most serious default.
The basic idea is this:
You have an apple tree, and you take your apples to town to sell and make a living.
Your neighbor has a different variety of apples and the two of you are in competition.
All town citizens use a public road to transport their goods. Everyone in town has agreed to share this road with all other citizens.
Your neighbor constructs a barrier that keeps you from getting to town, so your apples rot and you starve.
You complain to the town council. The council rules that the neighbor has to remove the barrier. The neighbor refuses.
You are doomed. Your neighbor has broken the agreement and your children are starving.
The town council rules that the neighbor has to reimburse you for lost income.
The neighbor refuses.
So now what happens? Does the town council say: “Sorry, appleman, we tried and failed, so just go roll up in a corner and die?”
Short of war (physically forcing the neighbor to remove the barrier) there is only one solution. If the neighbor doesn’t have to abide by the rules regarding your apples, the council releases you from your obligation to abide by the rules regarding his apples.
This gives the starved member at least a chance in hell to make a living because now he is free to come up with an alternative to the apples without being worried about retribution from the neighbor.
What we all forget, is that UIGEA has cost the rest of the world jobs and money. People are without a way to feed their families because of it. Thousands all over the world have been laid off. Thousands have lost all their investment for retirement. There are actual people suffering because of this, it’s not just a question of whether affiliates are allowed to collect monies for services rendered, it’s a complete disaster for tens of thousands of people the world around.
Forcing an injured party to continue to respect the “rights” of the party that is trying to kill them is inhumane.
This has nothing to do with theft, it has to do with open trade and with the right to make a living.
Now, the neighbor actually has the right to forbid the sale of apples, period. But he does not have the right to say: “My apples can be sold, but not yours.”
The world in general is trying to establish an ethical way to conduct business for all. It is one of the greatest accomplishments of our times and replaces wars. We are actually trying to enter an era of true civilization.
A country cannot expect world protection of it’s trade if it disregards the rights of others.
At that point, others are released from the trade obligations towards the offender, so to put them into a situation where they can compete and make a living again.
To simplify it even further…
A person (Antigua) may exist in a society where he is incapable of “earning a living” based on a variety of external forces (US Gov) beyond his control. That person may in turn feel he has no choice but to steal from the butcher (US company), and everyone who understands the vagrant’s predicament could hardly fault him for the thievery. The underlying truth of the matter is that it is still thievery, and while it may seem justified in light of the situation, the butcher who makes an “honest living” would likely think otherwise. There is no justice in such an arrangement even if a law is passed saying it’s OK to steal from the butcher. The butcher did not create the social environment and yet must now suffer as a result.
What’s wrong with your analogy is that your person is a rogue.
THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD have laws in place to regulate mutual respect of trade law.
Antigua would be acting according to the laws established by THE WORLD, not yours, not mine, and not it’s own.
Your analogy is also wrong in that the butcher in your story has previously caused this person to become a vagrant by bullying them out of their profession so the butcher could make all the money in that branch.
Either we have free trade, or we don’t.
It can’t be “freer” for one nation than for another.
I don’t think that’s quite correct. When the law was created stating that it was no longer illegal for the vagrant/rogue to steal from the butcher, then that would equate to the world stating it’s OK for Antigua to steal intellectual property from US companies.
The butcher did nothing to the rogue to cause him to resort to a life of thievery. The rogue simply doesn’t have the skill or capacity to be a butcher, in the same way that Antigua does not have the skill or capacity to produce marketable items such as a Microsoft. Antigua/rogue is a one-trick pony whose economy is founded on licensing gaming operations, not butchery.
In what way has any intellectual property owner made “free trade” less available to Antigua? Antigua’s battle is against the US policy makers and not intellectual property owners who happen to be registered in the US. It would be unfortunate for both the integrity of Antigua and the wealth of intellectual property owners if Antigua should sink to such a level. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be “allowed” in a legal sense; I only saying that it would be clearly unethical.
Ah, I see, you are standing up for the individuals/businesses affected in all of this.
Obviously the US businesses are going to be hurt, just as the Antiguan businesses lost over 75% of their income.
I am sure if this was a business to business transaction, cooler minds would have prevailed all along.
I agree, in all of that mess it is businesses being treated unfairly and hurt across the board. There is nothing ethical about any of this.
Unfortunately it’s a country against country affair, and business has to trust its government to do the right thing so they are allowed to conduct ethical business in an ethical world.
The US government has failed to act in an ethical manner, and now unfortunately US business will suffer.
I would hope there will be an uproar among the affected businesses and the US govermnment will move to right the wrong.
Hi all,
as I see it ….. the only way a smaller country has a chance is by what some consider “unethical” …… yes it is . …. but so was the action by the larger country to begin with.
yes its a shame that US biz which have nothing to do with OG will suffer. But it is the only way to get the country to aknowledge and do the right thing is when these businesses with no interest in OG are effected and then raise hell about the fact their being stolen from.
what it comes down to is what Dom said. that you put and must put trust in your gov to observe the laws passed and do the right thing. the US has not chosen to do so.
