From: Ad 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/23/antigua_wto_us_gambling/

Go on ma son.

"Antigua and Barbuda - a nation of 70,000 in an area roughly half the
size of San Francisco - has formally requested that the WTO allow it to
suspend its intellectual property obligations to the United States, AP
reports.

Although many in the US have mocked tiny Antigua'a case against the US with
a shrug of the shoulders, the Antiguans have always carried in their
pockets a nuclear option of sorts. Most Americans view trade disputes
through the prism of tit-for-tat protectionist schemes. A perceived price
subsidy leads to retaliatory tariffs, etc; but the obligations imposed by
WTO obligations run deeper than that.

Repeated violation of WTO commitments in the face of contrary WTO rulings
allows a victimized member country ultimately to suspend its own WTO
obligations to the offending nation - a form of restitution much more
punitive than tariffs alone. America runs a steady and hefty trade deficit
in virtually every category of international trade other than intellectual
property.

Were the WTO - with possible European, Japanese, and Chinese support - to
allow the Antiguans to suspend all intellectual property obligations to the
United States, the American IP industry could face a tiny adversary with an
unlimited right to reproduce for its own benefit American IP goods of any
kind."

"The idea that other countries will put up with this abuse
indefinitely may finally have run its course. Once one country chooses to
revise its definitions of its own commitments, as the US claims it will do,
other impacted countries may do the same. The only question now is whether
the major American trading partners - Europe, Japan, and China - join the
party.

Unlimited DRM-free copies of American music, movies, and Microsoft software?

Bring it on. It's about time"


Adam

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