EXPLOITING THE WTO RULING?
17 July 2009
Is Zookz! misinterpreting the WTO for profit?
The respected publication Techdirt.com carried an
interesting article about an online music provider
apparently taking advantage of World Trade Organisation
findings on the Internet gambling dispute between the
United States and the government of Antigua and Barbuda.
The article provides background by recapping the
story of how the tiny Caribbean online gambling
jurisdiction fought a long-running WTO battle with the
United States that culminated in the WTO ruling that the
US had been out of line and discriminatory in its
dealings with the Antiguans, who were consequently due
some compensation (see previous InfoPowa reports).
Techdirt correctly observes that the after years of
stonewalling and plain ignoring its obligations, the US
was eventually placed in a position where, at the end of
2007, the WTO agreed to let Antigua ignore US
intellectual property rights, 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 Intellectual Property, but did little to
rectify the situation. So last year, Antigua insisted it
really (really, really, really!) was going to start
ignoring US IP," Techdirt recalls, adding that the issue
then seemed to quieten down.
Until now. Techdirt
points to a story in the Los Angeles Times about a site
called Zookz (from Carib Media), which claims to be
taking advantage of the WTO ruling.
It is based
in Antigua and is offering up unlimited music or movie
downloads for a $10 a month subscription - 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,"
comments Techdirt.
"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."
Read the full story at
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090715/0325115550.shtml
Interesting article updating the European online
gambling legislative scene here, too.
http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14041688
Online Casino News Courtesy of
Infopowa
More news here.
Top of page |
Home |
News |
Forum |
Webcast |
Vortran |
Accredited Casinos |
Evil Ones |
Pitch a Bitch |
Online Gambling Resources |
Poker
|
