10 Years Later: Antigua May Finally (Really) Set Up Official 'Pirate' Site To Get Back What US Owes In Sanctions

from the watch-this-space dept

Well here's a story that's more than a decade in the making. Way back in 2003, we first wrote about Antigua filing for sanctions against the US for its ban on online gambling. Antigua argued (with fairly strong support) that this violated a trade agreement between the US and Antigua, by blocking a form of free trade. The case was at the WTO for years, bouncing around. In 2004, the WTO ruled against the US, which the US promptly ignored. In 2005, the WTO again ruled in favor of Antigua on the issue, and the US (stunningly) responded by pretending that it had won, when it most clearly had not. Following that, the US pretended that it could just unilaterally change its free trade agreement to carve out gambling. Not surprisingly, Antigua (and the WTO) found that to be problematic.

It goes without saying that the US is big and powerful and Antigua... is not. So, as it became clear that the US intended to ignore any WTO ruling, people began to wonder if there was any remedy for Antigua over this issue. Normally, the WTO could do something with trade sanctions against the US and in favor of Antigua, but given how much Antigua relies on US trade, that would likely hurt Antigua a lot more than the US. Somewhere in the midst of this -- around 2006 -- someone somewhere floated the idea that one way that Antigua could be made whole would be to allow it to ignore US copyright laws, allowing it to "sell" copyrighted content on the cheap, without paying any royalties. That idea took on a life of its own and Antigua began pushing the idea itself around 2007. The world community started to side with Antigua over this, recognizing that the US was being completely unfair here... and the US did what the US does, and bought off a bunch of big countries to get them to shut up and stop supporting Antigua.

In late 2007, the WTO finally said that this plan of retaliatory copyright infringement could go forward in Antigua, but limited to just $21 million worth of infringement. Even so, the US immediately warned Antigua not to even think about it, or it would retaliate. There were some negotiations between the two countries that went nowhere and then... a lot of nothing. We've barely touched on the story since 2008 when Antigua once again threatened to (no, really this time!) launch a copyright infringing store with "permission" from the WTO. But, that didn't happen.

However, reports are now coming out that Antigua finally has plans in place to launch just such a store. Of course, we'll believe it when we see it, considering the decade-long posturing over this issue. Oh yeah, and, once again, the US is warning Antigua not to move forward, claiming that Antigua is acting in "bad faith" and launching the store might "serve to postpone the final resolution of this matter." Considering that the US lost at the WTO nearly a decade ago, and still hasn't "resolved" the matter, that's a fairly ridiculous claim. And, of course, the US is threatening to "retaliate" if Antigua goes forward:

"In these circumstances, Antigua has no justification for taking any retaliatory actions against the United States. Moreover, if Antigua actually proceeds 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."

So, the short version from the US's point of view is that it's fine to ignore its own trade agreements that wrecked a significant part of Antigua's economy -- but as soon as Antigua fights back and wins, it's not allowed to make use of WTO-approved remedies after years and years of the US refusing to fix its abuses. And somehow when it finally (years and years later) moves forward with this other plan... the US argues that it would harm its international obligations? The hubris from the US is (once again) incredible, if not particularly surprising.

Filed Under: antigua, copyright, online gambling, piracy, trade dispute, us, wto

No Surprise: Zookz Shuts Down Indefinitely, Refunds Money

from the so-much-for-that-plan dept

Well, this wasn't difficult to predict at all. As noted last week, a company named Zookz clearly stretched and misinterpreted the WTO rulings in the dispute between Antigua and the US. Given the sheer number of emails their high-end PR people have been dumping my way, the fact that they were making a mockery of the ruling was part of the plan to get them press attention. Of course, they might not have expected the Antiguan gov't to quickly step up and point out that it didn't support Zookz either. So the latest is that Zookz has shut down the site and promised to return money to anyone who subscribed. They claim that they'll be back, but I wouldn't count on it. At least not in any form similar to what they originally advertised.

Filed Under: antigua, copyright, music, trade dispute, wto
Companies: zookz

Zookz! Misinterpreting The WTO To Annoy The RIAA

from the not-everyone-agrees dept

It's been quite some time since we last heard anything about the fascinating battle between the US and Antigua. It goes back a long time. We first wrote about this issue, nearly a decade ago, when the operators of online casinos in Antigua (where gambling is legal) were pretty pissed off to find out that the US claimed to have regulatory power over their online casino and could ban its use in the US. Antigua protested to the WTO, claiming that this was a violation of free trade agreements between the two countries. In 2004, the WTO agreed with Antigua, saying that because the US allows certain types of gambling, it's a violation of their agreement to ban Antiguan gambling sites. Of course, the US ignored the WTO and Antigua, recognizing that Antigua had little to no power over the US.

A year later, the WTO ruled again in favor of Antigua on this issue, though, amusingly, the US Trade Rep misleadingly claimed that the WTO had changed its mind. It had not. The US simply lied about what the WTO really said and declared victory, when it had actually lost again. The following year? The WTO again asked the US why it wasn't living up to its trade obligations on this point. In 2007, the WTO tried again and was ignored again.

In the midst of all this, a rather amusing and interesting suggestion popped up. In the random online discussions about how Antigua could actually flex its muscles against the US, someone pointed out that the WTO could allow Antigua to ignore US intellectual property, thereby allowing it to set up a cheap online download store. That idea gained traction at an incredibly fast pace, as lawyers jumped on the idea and set the wheels in motion. During that time, the US tried to unilaterally change its trade terms with Antigua to settle the matter, but that didn't get very far. Finally, at the end of 2007, the WTO agreed to letting Antigua ignore US intellectual property, but only to the tune of $21 million. Of course, the US quickly threatened Antigua not to go forward with any plans to violate US IP, but did little to rectify the situation. So last year, Antigua insisted it really (really, really, really!) was going to start ignoring US IP.

Since then? Well, it's been really quiet. Until now.

The LA Times has the story of a site called Zookz (from Carib Media), which claims to be taking advantage of the WTO ruling. It is, in fact, based in Antigua and is offering up unlimited music or movie downloads for $10/month -- or both music and movies for $18. Needless to say, the US government and the entertainment industry are vehemently opposed to Zookz interpretation of the WTO ruling -- especially when it comes to the fact that the Zookz service is apparently available outside of Antigua. Honestly, it seems like both sides are stretching the meaning of the ruling. The US and the entertainment industry basically want to completely ignore the WTO ruling, and interpret it to be entirely meaningless. That makes no sense, of course. The WTO wouldn't allow such sanctions unless there were a way to actually make use of them.

That said, it doesn't seem like the WTO ruling gave random private companies carte blanche to offer up music and movies. In fact, the Zookz interpretation gets even odder, where it interprets the $21 million to mean how much it can make, rather than the value "lost" to the industry. In fact, because of this Zookz claims that if it gets too close to selling $21 million (or if others enter the market, and combined they approach $21 million), they'll just have to start giving music and movies away for free to avoid going over the limit. While the WTO did want to give Antigua a weapon against the US, it's hard to believe that was what it meant. So, while this may be amusing to watch, the likelihood of Zookz lasting very long seems slim, at best.

Filed Under: antigua, copyright, music, trade dispute, wto
Companies: riaa