Pirates of the Caribbean, V2.0

[jeff_duntemann]

I originally thought it was a hoax when I heard about it this past January. It sure sounded like one. But it's for real: The World Trade Organization has given the otherwise unexceptional Caribbean nation of Antigua permission to sell US copyrighted content, without any payment to copyright owners.

WTF?

It's revenge, people. Antigua was making a

Comments

[drsulak]

If I bought a copyrighted work from them, and used it in the US, would I still be violating US laws?

Even if no, how exactly can anyone tell if Antigua has hit the $21M limit? How will this be tracked via the WTO? What prevents another country from slapping a "bought in Antigua" label on products and generating a receipt as such?

What prevents Sony or any other company setting up a company in Antigua, buying $21M of licenses on day one, and then declaring the limit is reached?

I don't see any of this being practical, and given that the major stakeholders are not bitterly complaining now, there's something else afoot.

[jeff_duntemann]

I agree completely--the whole thing doesn't make sense in fifteen different ways. I'm not sure the US could make it illegal to buy items from Antigua, since that might lead to another WTO complaint, and possibly a more costly settlement.

Now, $21M is small change when you're Sony, so maybe they consider it a victory that the WTO didn't do a dollar-for-dollar grant. Perhaps Big Media realizes that it could have been a lot worse. But as you say, there are a number of ways for people to game the system. I'm sure many of them will be used. Beyond that, we just have to wait and see.

[apostle_of_eris]

pfft
Have you been following the “Trans-Pacific Partnership”?