From: Ad 

http://www.slate.com/id/2153352/?nav=tap3

Oh dear me as someone who used to work for william hill how I did laugh....

Basically the US laws against Inet gaming are in breach of the WTO &
thus those feeling damaged by it's refusal to comply.....means....

"The obvious question is what Antigua can do with a victory at the
WTO. Retaliatory tariffs plainly aren't particularly appealing for small
country like Antigua, because they would certainly hurt more than they
would help. But the plucky little island paradise does have some creative
options at its disposal. If the United States remains recalcitrant, under
the WTO rules, Antigua would potentially have the right to suspend its own
compliance with the treaty that obligates it to respect the United States'
intellectual-property laws. That, one can well imagine, might get
Washington's attention.

Want a cheap copy of Microsoft's latest software or a nice medical device
that, annoyingly, is protected by a U.S. patent? Come to Antigua. In such a
scenario, Antigua couldn't simply be ostracized as a rogue state. It would
have every right under WTO rules to pursue such a course. In fact, Antigua
could go down this road only in response to the United States' continuing
refusal to honor its international obligations. While there undoubtedly
would be complicated issues and restrictions on the scope of any suspension
the WTO approves, the United States shouldn't assume that the world body is
too timid to hand Antigua this sort of stick with which to retaliate, since
it has authorized intellectual-property-based reprisal before. Antigua's
frank calculation here, of course, is that while the administration might
be comfortable stiffing the Antiguan trade representative, it would
probably take notice if, say, an irate Microsoft or Disney started
insisting that it get this problem solved.

This whole episode may turn out to be a case study of what can go wrong
when Congress succumbs to an idea that probably should never have made it
out of the 19th century—prohibition—in far more complex contemporary
circumstances. To the extent it has been thinking about the dispute with
Antigua at all, the United States may have been assuming that it could
white-knuckle any public-relations fallout and not actually have to change
its behavior. In the past, in an economy based largely on physical goods,
this might have been a reasonable strategy, but it doesn't look good when
intellectual property is such a crucial asset. As the United States knows
better than anyone, useful intellectual-property protection requires a
shared set of global enforcement agreements. Precisely because it has the
most to gain from this system, the United States is also uniquely
vulnerable to gaps in it. And that's why allowing countries like Antigua to
suspend intellectual-property treaties in trade disputes gives them such a
potent weapon, a fact that the United States, much to its annoyance, may
soon learn."

Quick Russia....set up some Inet gaming sites which get blocked by the US
then ....no need to respect any US IP.....ditto the UK (esp given betfair
etc & the deep love the US has for banging up UK execs)....etc.

In fact the quickest way to legally grab US IP will be to set up an Inet Gaming site.

I would say...move now....grab what you can before the US crumbles.....


Adam

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