New Special 301 Report Shows Spain's Kowtowing Paid Off
from the pat-on-the-head dept
Today, the USTR released its 2013 Special 301 Report (pdf and embedded below), the notorious "watchlist" of foreign countries where intellectual property is supposedly in danger (which is in fact just a self-serving diplomatic pressure tool). Ukraine has been dubbed enemy number one, with Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand and Venezuela on the priority watchlist, so expect the diplomatic push for American-style IP laws to intensify in those countries.
One thing to note is the fact that Spain succeeded in staying off the list. As we recently noted, the Spanish government has essentially admitted that its recent copyright reform efforts were designed entirely to keep the country out of the 301 Report. Well, it looks like they got their wish, and all they had to do was sell out their country to US interests. Nobody will be able to say that they sit on a list of dirty thieves alongside backwards pirate nations like Canada and Finland, which brazenly ignore the kind US diplomats who surely have our best interests at heart. Congratulations, Spain!
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Filed Under: spain, special 301 report, ustr
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Well....
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Biggest terrorist organisation in the world
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Congratulations Spain
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Re: Congratulations Spain
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China, huh?
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Re: China, huh?
This USTR Stuff gets me pretty angry.Other Nations just cave in to my corrupt Government's Demands.
What a bunch of Wimps.
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Just shows that standing up to the USTR is a good thing.
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USTR supports evergreening
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Chutzpa
The United States also looks forward to the report of the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry on Counterfeiting and Piracy in the Commercial Field, which is an important opportunity to state the importance of strong IPR protection and enforcement in Italy and to identify solutions to address persistent concerns
USTR is now naming exactly the time and place where the expected kow-towing is to happen.
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Orwellian doublespeak
"Market access", in this context, not meaning what most people would mean by "market access", namely, they can import something and put it up for sale in a storefront. Oh, no. Here, "market access" means "ability to get the government to squash your competitors" -- in other words, lack of access by anyone else. In normal, non-Orwellian language we'd call that market exclusivity.
"Illegal software", here, apparently means "integer the nonrivalrous use of which said integer's 'owner' hasn't been paid for", as opposed to, say, hacking tools or some such thing that it might conceivably actually make sense to criminalize.
Another country matching that description is ... the United States of America. The DMCA safe harbors remove third party liability for copyright infringement done by other people, and takedown notices are not enforced by the government. A notice sender has to sue and seek an injunction to get something taken down if a DMCA notice isn't sufficient. The DMCA notice doesn't carry the force of such a court-issued injunction itself, nor should it. But apparently the hypocritical USTR won't be happy with Ukraine unless they enact a much stricter rule than the US's own DMCA, giving copyright holders direct censorship power over websites and not granting safe harbors for third parties.
Also notable: all of the BRIC group of emerging economies are on the "naughty list", India of course for its stance on access to life-saving generic medicines (shame on the US again here!) ...
Prediction: with Italy and Greece both on the "naughty list", expect someone to start spreading FUD about how failure to respect IP enough leads inevitably to economic disaster, and to point to Italy and Greece, perennial 301 listees that are undergoing economic woes of late, as the "proof". After all, with some countries brazenly ignoring the largely-toothless Special 301 list, something more is needed to, if not force, then frighten countries into toeing the line. If the same argument can be used to further promulgate the myth that IPR is necessary to have a thriving and innovative economy, so much the better. Frankly I'm surprised not to have seen maximalists floating such an argument, citing Italy and Greece as "proof", somewhere already.
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"The Ukraine" is offensive, don't use it!
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Re: "The Ukraine" is offensive, don't use it!
Another of his favorite reminders: Don't fuck with the Ukranians.
;)
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Next year Spain will be there for one reason or another.
Vikings did that to the UK, "you pay us and we don't attack you", that didn't last long and Vikings invaded anyways conquering everything. Of note is the fact that to be a "Viking" was to be a "pirate", when Nordic people told others they would go Viking they meant to go on a rampage pillaging everything in sight.
The 301 report doesn't need to be accurate as long as others accept it the way it is, maybe it is time for other countries to start making their own 301 report thing and put crazy demands on it and start acting on it as if they were all correct and justified.
You see if you just want to justify shit you want to be done why bother with the truth? is not the intent, of the damn thing, just make shit up and sell it as so and those who buy are the suckers like Spain, although it may be that Spain has no choice, because it has no leverage on the matter and so it has to bend over and just take it all.
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I guess when you sprinkle everything with fine tuned words it comes off as less bitchy.
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If this is about protection, shouldn't the biggest offender point fingers at itself before others?
Figures.
So, yeah, congratulations Spain! See you on the list next time because you didn't do enough.
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Spain figured it out
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The solution is obvious of course. We need to force all of these people back to work as soon as possible so they can pay us for our IP instead of stealing it all. The fact that their children are starving is no excuse for the wholesale rape of our IP!
If you take it, you have a moral obligation to pay for it one way or another. If you don't pay, that is theft. It's as simple as that. It's not our problem you're all too poor to make ends meet; it's your problem for being too damn lazy to work, just like all filthy pirates are.
Hopefully your government will take the necessary steps that are so clearly needed to make sure anyone who doesn't pay gets the severe punishment they deserve for their unacceptable criminal behavior.
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Generics are apparently the devil for the 301 list (several countries are there for being generic producers!), which should be quite a self-destructive policy given that it is completely legal in all countries!
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"Naughty" list???
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