Posted by All Information Here on Wednesday, October 29, 2014
As expected, the WTO recently authorised Antigua, a tiny Carribean island, to "cross retaliate" against intellectual property belonging to the United States.
What this effectively means is that Antigua qualifies as a "legal" pirate of the Carribean i.e. it can pirate music and movies belonging to US copyright holders, without violating any international norm. (I deliberately use the term "legal" pirate, if only to evoke a strong paradox)."...
As the US threatened Antigua with dire consequences for this purported "IP theft", Antigua quoted Bob Dylan: "When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose". Certain to go down in trade history as a classic! Several articles cover this interesting development which will no doubt have significant ramifications for our discourse on the "fairness' of free trade, egregious breaches by the world's largest trader, and of course, our rather deep rooted belief in the sanctity of intellectual property.
"Antigua may be the first country to have a government-run torrent site, effectively legalizing Internet piracy. The World Trade Organization has given approval for the tiny Caribbean nation to suspend United States copyrights, allowing the government to run a torrent site that will host and sell movies and other intellectual properties without compensating American studios or creators."
Another article offers some background to this interesting WTO dispute between the world's leading super power and a tiny island nation that many may not have heard of.
"Antigua's reasons for pursuing sanctions against the US are related to the countries' once-flourishing online gambling industry. Over a decade ago, the US outlawed Antigua-based gambling sites, and the two countries have been embroiled in a dispute ever since.
The online gambling industry contributed $3.4 billion per year to the Antiguan economy at its height, and employed over four percent of the country's citizens. After the US instigated the ban, Antigua sought help from the WTO to rectify the situation. In 2004, the WTO ruled in Antigua's favor, but even after a 2005 US appeal fell on deaf ears, the US still refused to reverse its decision."
For those interested, the concept of cross retaliation was covered by me in previous SpicyIP posts, here and here.
In particular, I have a full length paper in a special issue of the Law and Development Review discussing a viable model for cross retaliation. This paper details the Antigua dispute and proposes an elaborate IP suspension model that Antigua could comfortably deploy in its bid to ensure compliance with the WTO framework (it bears noting that Antigua can retaliate only to a limited extent, in that the losses caused to the US by Antigua's IP suspension cannot exceed USD 21 million each year).
Clearly, the US is upset! In their report to the WTO, they rail against Antigua's "misplaced decision to abandon constructive settlement discussions" and issue a rather stern warning:
"if Antigua does proceed with a plan for its government to authorize the theft of intellectual property, it would only serve to hurt Antigua’s own interests. Government-authorized piracy would undermine chances for a settlement that would provide real benefits to Antigua. It also would serve as a major impediment to foreign investment in the Antiguan economy, particularly in high-tech industries."
Antigua responds with a telling counter:
"For nearly a decade, Antigua has sought to resolve the dispute with the United States Government over the US failure to abide by American treaty obligations with regard to remote gaming.
..The economy of Antigua and Barbuda has been devastated by the United States Government's long campaign to prevent American consumers from gambling on-line with offshore gaming operators. These aggressive efforts to shut down the remote gaming industry in Antigua has resulted in the loss of thousands of good paying jobs..
As a result of the US failure to comply with international law, the Antiguan economy and our citizens have suffered. In previous statements, the United States has indicated there could be possible adverse consequences for Antigua and its citizens for resorting to this WTO-sponsored remedy. We assume this is just rhetoric for public consumption, and we look forward to the United States putting aside these tactics and focusing their future efforts on thoughtful negotiation rather than on hyperbole and intimidation.."
But what takes the cake is Antigua's witty recourse to a sentiment expressed by one of the most famous US musicians ever. In a statement to the WTO, Antiguan High Commissioner to the UK, Carl Roberts paraphrased Bob Dylan: “[As] an American musician once said, ‘When you have nothing, you have nothing to lose’”.
Many predict that this pirate haven in the Carribean will never come to pass, as the US will now quickly move to settle. And settle it did, when Brazil raised a similar war cry some years ago... ps: Thanks to Malavika Jayaram for pointing me to this hilarious image.