Brazil May Follow Antigua In Asking WTO For Permission To Ignore US Copyright And Patents

from the IP-as-international-retaliation dept

Mon, Jun 23rd 2008 10:42am — Mike Masnick

It appears that Brazil is considering following the lead of Antigua in asking the WTO for permission to ignore US copyright and patent laws (found via Howard Knopf). This isn't the first time that this has occurred. Three years ago, Brazil had suggested the same solution in response to the same issue: US subsidies to cotton farmers that Brazil feels go against international laws and treaties.

What's really interesting here, though is the ongoing recognition that this is an effective way to retaliate against US efforts to break treaties or laws. With a country like Antigua, which has little else it can do, it might not be that surprising. But seeing a much larger country like Brazil take this approach seriously may lead to it showing up in many more places as well.

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Filed Under: brazil, intellectual property, trade agreements, wto

7 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jun 2008 @ 10:58am

We all have been..
Ignoring those stupid laws for quite some time. I thought seriously about setting up a server in Antigua, but since Brazil is on the band wagon I would rather go there. Maybe

www.allofanymedia.com

Th all new Pirate bay!
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Daniel, 23 Jun 2008 @ 11:14am

It's interesting how this could ultimately pit the IP owners against those "corn farmers". The IP'ers lobby to stop subsidies to U.S. farmers to alleviate the motivation for other countries to ignore U.S. IP law. Pretty ironic after big media using the "hurting the corn farmers" excuse.
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Bobbknight, 23 Jun 2008 @ 1:25pm

Hurt the Farmers
I can't see how this will hurt the farmers any more than Cargill and ADM already hurt the rest of America.
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Wyatt, 23 Jun 2008 @ 1:27pm

It will only hurt consumers. But China, South Korea, and India have been doing such things for years. Why is it such a surprise that others are now officially joining the infringement bandwagon?
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bikey (profile), 24 Jun 2008 @ 12:18am

IP
The US has been hitting everyone where it hurts for over a decade. Finally, the rest of the world is retaliating. International IP, or TRIPS, is a creature of WTO, and a perfectly legal target.
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alexf2000, 24 Jun 2008 @ 4:28am

Surprisingly nobody seems to take any big advantages of this sutiation with Antigua.
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TJGodel, 30 Jun 2008 @ 10:03am

Hitting the U.S. where it can really hurt, Copyrights and Patents, will cause massive pressure on congress and the President to repeal laws and policies that limit or put countries such as Antigua at a disadvantage in the International trade area.
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