Antigua Still Threatening To Launch Its WTO-Endorsed Legal Piracy Site, But We've Heard That Before
from the any-day-now dept
In a dispute that's dragged on for over a decade, it appears that Antigua is, once again, making noises about how this time it's really, really, really going to do what the WTO has said it can do: set up a legal platform to infringe on American copyrights as a form of official payback for the US clearly violating a trade agreement with Antigua by outlawing online gambling. We've covered this dispute and all its twists and turns for years, but the short summary is that Antigua won at every turn, even as the US tried to once declare victory where it had lost. The US even tried to just say it could unilaterally change the trade agreement, which is not how those things work.Of course, Antigua is a small country, so how does it "get back" at the US after such a win, when it's clear that the US doesn't care at all about the WTO saying it violated the agreement? Well, some folks had the bright idea that perhaps Antigua could just violate American copyrights, and pirate their way to the equivalent value of what the US should be paying. That idea was first floated around 2006, and it seemed like a joke. However, it continued to gain steam. Of course, the real idea behind these sorts of things is that Antigua and the WTO hope that this will make the RIAA and MPAA go running to the US government and beg them to come to some sort of settlement in which gobs of cash are sent from the US Treasury to Antigua. It's a well-known trick in trade wars: co-opt some powerful lobbyists who really shouldn't have any dog in the actual fight, and get them on your side. It happens in trade disputes quite often.
Of course, in the years since the WTO first gave its stamp of approval to this plan, what we've seen is every so often, Antigua makes a public statement along the lines of, "Hey! we're really going to do it!" and the US responds with "You'd better not!" and then there's silence for a year or two, and the dance starts all over again. Apparently it's time for that dance again, because Antigua is making very public that it's really, no really (do you hear that USTR?) really, really, really planning to move forward this time. No, really. They even had a meeting about it. And they're going to set up a body to "manage and operate" the platform. They also claim that they'll soon let private companies bid on participating. And... of course, they knock the US for "failing to negotiate."
I imagine that at some point the US will do another "Oh no, you'd better not!" statement, and then we'll be waiting around for another six to nine months before Antigua insists that it's really, really, no really moving forward with it this time. Really. Guys. Really. We mean it this time.
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Filed Under: antigua, copyright, infringement, piracy, trade wars, wto
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If it really, really comes out I'll be a regular visitor and downloader ;)
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Slysoft is already there - check out what it does.
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This is 3rd partly liability that you approve of!
Then Mike and his grifter pals and the little pirates start hoping they can "legally" steal products made by US producers.
It's perfect example of how destructive those globalist "treaty" organizations are, that's all.
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Which is like MIke's assertion: "The US even tried to just say it could unilaterally change the trade agreement, which is not how those things work." -- Both believe that US sovereignty -- which is the People's -- are subject to an international organization set up by "treaty". As I stated, that's the danger and destruction that those "treaties" cause; it's the intended effect of globalists and the politicians who sold us out.
Of late, the former US of A has engaged in illegal foreign wars and had its former reputation rightly damaged. Our politicians have been shipping jobs overseas, and corporations have profited enormously from exploiting foreign labor while still selling in the former US market. But that's ending with the bankers inflating the US money supply by $85 billion a month. In every way, the former US of A has been hollowed out and disgraced. All by intent. -- But that doesn't make the "treaties" right! -- Nor should you cheer at the US collapse, as you will not remain free for long after the biggest falls...
Nor is it, as practical matter, that the US must surrender to the diktats of foreign criminal bankers. That's why I include Mike's assertion here, and include him as actually cheering this. -- The US can unilaterally exit ANY and every treaty! Still the most militarized nation on earth, kids. The US could flatten Antigua in a matter of hours, NOT that I advocate more than the current ignoring.
This In answer to the swarm of ACs -- I really must stop commenting here, only provide impetus for invective -- It's the WTO which must go, NOT US sovereignty!
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So you would be happy for the countries of the world to descend into wars with each other all because of Trade as there would be no WTO to deal with. Guess you want a world war all along!
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The US can exit unilaterally the WTO agreement whenever it wants but then its copyright will has no value in the rest of the WTO countries.
The US can not CHANGE the WTO agreement unilaterally.
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More likely is the current crop of parasites will eventually die off, as more and more people shift to better options, and a new crop will emerge, willing to meet customers on more even footing.
Then of course after a while they'll get complacent and rooted in 'what always worked', they'll die off and someone else will replace them, and the cycle will continue...
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Let's not forget, for one second, that the US is NOT living up to its legally-bound obligations under treaties with anyone else - treaties that it directly influenced to have these clauses such that it could have a massive advantage in the marketplace.
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No it's a perfect of example of US hypocrisy. All in favour of these trade organisations and treaties when they benefit the US but the moment they find themselves on the receiving end of what they dish out to others all the time they throw a hissy fit and try to pretend it's not happening.
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If so save your money and remember this, It will never be possible to steal 1s and 0s no matter how many times you click your heels together :)
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A mutual defense treaty allows us to be dragged into a war because someone attacks a different country. A trade agreement allows foreign countries to bypass or get more advantageous tax treatment for their US imports and exports. And so on.
In every case, we could just ignore the treaty the second it became inconvenient for us to honor the promises we made in it, but if you do that too much, people stop making treaties with you, and besides, the US only has sovereignty over what happens in the US; often the reason for treaties is to allow us some ability to affect matters outside our jurisdiction, and if we don't live up to our side, the other parties don't have to live up to theirs.
US copyrights only apply to works within US territory. If the authors of those works want a copyright that applies in Antigua, they have to go, hat in hand, to the Antiguan government, which may or may not decide to give them one, as suits their interests. Treaties like Berne streamline the process by obligating Antigua to grant Antiguan copyrights to US works, but this imposes on our sovereignty in the US by obligating us to grant US copyrights on Antiguan works, rather than letting us have the full discretion to decide case by case. The enforcement mechanism is that if one side stops fulfilling its obligations, the other side can stop just as easily, and we're back to the old way of doing things.
The WTO streamlines international trade amongst members and has various enforcement mechanisms, the ultimate one being that a country is no longer in the WTO and no longer gets the benefits of it. And anyone can choose to drop out at any time. That we haven't indicates that the US is still getting a better deal out of this than if we stood alone, our sovereignty completely intact because we refused to compromise on anything for any reason.
If we really don't like Antigua pirating US works, and we also really don't like Internet gambling with foreign countries, we can shut this down fairly easily by banning all Internet gambling, including domestically. That will undercut the Antiguan case. Right now we've lost because we tried to have our cake and eat it too; we have to pick one option instead.
All this having been said, I too am concerned about treaties prioritizing trade over environmental protection, labor protection, and other matters. But it's probably better to change the treaties to accommodate those things then to push for isolationism. Given that we pushed the damn things through to begin with, often upsetting our trading partners, it shouldn't be too hard to push through changes that will suit them better, and hopefully suit us better too now that we understand that it's a two-edged sword.
Oh, and also, there'll be no 'stealing' of anything. Antigua is out to make money here. They'll print up copies and sell them side by side with official copies, up to the allowed limit. They aren't just going to set up an FTP server and say 'download away.'
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Sarcastic
Would you not thread carefully?
You're mocking the little guy for not daring to whack the bodybuilder bully.
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All of you freetards are.
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