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WTO Awards Caribbean Country Right to Ignore US Copyright
The WTO's recent ruling on Antigua's complaint against the US over the banning of online gambling resulted in a payment to the island nation much less than they asked for. It appears, though, that this payment was just part of the WTO's compensation package for Antigua/Barbuda. Via Kotaku, the Hollywood Reporter notes that the Caribbean country can now freely ignore US copyright laws - legally. This dispensation is apparently limited to some $21 million a year. "The WTO often takes decisions awarding trade compensation in cases where one nation's policies are found to break its rules. But this is only the second time the compensation lets one country violate intellectual property laws. In this case, Antigua will -- in theory -- be allowed to distribute copies of American DVDs, CDs and games and software with impunity. 'That has only been done once before and is, I believe, a very potent weapon,' Antigua's lawyer Mark Mendel said. 'I hope that the United States government will now see the wisdom in reaching some accommodation with Antigua over this dispute.'"
The cartel will probably urge the US government to bomb the country into oblivion before it gets the opportunity to violate the sacrosanct copyright system.
Part of the hardcore faithful who believed in Apple long before it was cool again to do so
I would happily spend my USD with them.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
As I sit looking out my window across a lovely but frigid blanket of white to the filthy, freezing slush on the street and notice a pedestrian being blown off the sidewalk by an icy, knife-edged wind, I think of setting up a nice little pirate factory to legally crank out stuff that will drive the RIAA to frothing, incoherent rage on one of the nicer Caribbean islands.
And a drink. A drink with an umbrella in it. Could life be better?
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
I'm going to setup a copy shop and start selling pirate copies of Ubuntu. Who's with me?
If you haven't made a developer cry, you've wasted a day.
21 Million? That's it??? Who defines how much the copyright is worth? That's like two movies on Bittorent according to the MPAA.
If you wonder why a "first post" would be modded "redundant" instead of "offtopic", it's because "holy shit" is of course not offtopic. In the Carribean they have a religion where marijuana is used as a sacrement. So the shit there is indeed holy, making the statement "holy shit" itself redundant.
Also, "holy shit" is redundant because right now in every office in Hollywood, overpaid cocaine soaked executives are making that very same exclamation.
Well, not all of them will be saying "holy shit." Some will simply be saying "shit", referring to what they just did in their pants.
-mcgrew
PS- everyone should now go out and sell all their Sony stock. Not because this will make the price of Sony stock drop, just because Sony is evil and this is as good an excuse as any.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Pirates of the Caribbean.... ;)
There's a Disney joke in this somewhere.
for "pirates of the caribbean: at world's end" on dvd
i think antigua should give that sucker away for free
simply because, a caribbean nation pirating a movie called pirates of the caribbean is just too f***ing funny
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
in ...
ANTIGUITY
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
America was invented in Europe.
said the man who never listened to the Beatles.
And the Beatles played what genre of music, rock and roll, invented by American blacks, as was its forebear, the Blues. So let's run down the genre's of music American blacks have invented - the blues, rock and roll, jazz, rap... I mean come on, let's face it, Europeans have done nothing but ape American innovation when it comes to the last 100 years. And I've not even through in comic books, video games, movies, DVDs... Americans have it all over Europe when it comes to the arts. Europe is culturally dead. In fact, even American cooking is better!
This is my sig.
SWM seeks new sig for a brief fling
"In other news, tonight President Bush announced in to the American people that Antigua is a terrorist state and sponsor of Al Qaeda. Bush repeatedly stated his desire for military action to inva... er liberate the country and it's people. Bush also praised Disney and the RIAA for endorsement of the Antigua liberation from terror."
Brielle