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December 28, 2007 at 4:47 pm #606658AnonymousInactive
The guys from Superior pointed me to this:
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3627982
By Ian Schafer, The ClickZ Network, Dec 28, 2007
Sponsored by Limelight Networks
I don’t know if you’ve been following the online gambling lawsuits currently being evaluated by the United States, the European Union, and World Trade Organization (WTO), but I have. It’s a study in international online laws and its outcome could set precedent for Internet regulation for years to come.
“The New York Times” reports the WTO on December 21 imposed a $21 million sanction against the U.S. in response to a complaint made by Antigua, the home of many online casinos. After WTO ruled in 2005 that a U.S. law prohibiting online gambling was illegal, Antigua and Barbuda claimed $3.4 billion in annual damages as a result of the U.S. prohibition.
As part of the WTO ruling, the tiny island nation of Antigua was awarded compensation up to $21 million — but not in cash. Under the WTO ruling, Antigua basically gets a free to violate up to $21 million in copyright and trademark protections from the United States.
As “The New York Times” puts it:
“…the ruling is significant in that it grants a rare form of compensation: the right of one country, in this case Antigua, to violate intellectual property laws of another — the United States — by allowing it to distribute copies of American music, movie and software products.”
Whoa.
I wonder if U.S. media companies were consulted about this deal before it was offered. I wonder if there aren’t people in Antigua right now snapping up every (remaining) video-related domain name.
This has the potential to explode right back in the face of the United States. By essentially giving people or companies in Antigua a free pass to distribute content without the copyright holder’s permission, the WTO opens a Pandora’s box of video and music piracy that will be very difficult to close back up.
Even if the U.S. government strictly enforces the perceived dollar value of copyright violation, it’s been proven many times before that it’s difficult to assign a mutually agreed-upon value to each offense.
We might be looking at another video distribution free-for-all reminiscent of the early days of Napster and Kazaa, before anyone in a suit knew what was going on — but every college kid sure did. It’s the wild West Indies, and every major copyright holder may be taken along for a ride.
A U.S. trade representative recently warned Antigua to avoid acts of piracy or other intellectual property rights violations while the talks continue. I’m doubtful that will be enforced.
The irony is, the only advertisers that will be willing to go near advertising inventory on sites or services that spring up will be online gambling and porn — at least half of what the U.S. government wants to curb with this resolution.
December 29, 2007 at 10:40 am #757596AnonymousInactiveIt’s really screwed up. The US gov is completely wrong, trampling on it’s own citizens’ rights in order to protect big gambling interests in the US. In return, the WTO (with the consent of the US) punishes another completely unrelated industry.
December 29, 2007 at 12:54 pm #757598AnonymousInactive@Oneguy2nv 149458 wrote:
It’s really screwed up. The US gov is completely wrong, trampling on it’s own citizens’ rights in order to protect big gambling interests in the US. In return, the WTO (with the consent of the US) punishes another completely unrelated industry.
Yup…totally. Why should a musician not receive royalties to settle a totally unrelated WTO case in a totally different sector? Its what the EU just did to the online gaming industry in reverse. Politics is truly f*cked up.
December 29, 2007 at 7:46 pm #757611AnonymousInactiveIt’s not just video and music.
The software industry is big business too.
With windows server pricing starting at the low end of $750 and Vista or XP Pro in the neighborhood of $175 wholesale, Microsoft could take a big enough hit on it’s own to make the 21 million with less that 30,000 sales lost.Rick
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