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US Blocking Costa Rican Sugar Trade To Force IP Laws

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the if-you-can't-beat-em-squeeze-harder dept.

For the last couple of days news has been trickling in about how the US is trying to ram IP laws down Costa Rica's throat by blocking their access to the US sugar market. Techdirt has a good summary of the various commentaries and a related scoop in the Bahamas where the US is also applying IP pressure. "The first is in Costa Rica, which is included in the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Yet like with other free trade agreements that the US has agreed to elsewhere, this one includes draconian intellectual property law requirements. I still cannot understand why intellectual monopoly protectionism — the exact opposite of 'free trade' — gets included in free trade agreements. At least in Costa Rica, a lot of people started protesting these rules, pointing out that it would be harmful for the economy, for education and for healthcare. So the Costa Rican government has not moved forward with such laws. How has the US responded? It's blocking access to the US market of Costa Rican sugar until Costa Rica approves new copyright laws."

20 of 441 comments (clear)

  1. "IP La" by Gothmolly · · Score: 2, Funny

    What's "IP La"? In Central America, wouldn't it be "La IP" instead?

    --
    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
    1. Re:"IP La" by derGoldstein · · Score: 1, Funny

      Also, the link to TFA stops one letter short of the word "throat".
      Look, if we spent all day poking around poorly written summaries and the overall lack of proofreading on this site... then, well... never mind.

      --
      Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
    2. Re:"IP La" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      this has nothing to do with online

      It's true, I read this in my paper copy of Slashdot that is delivered to my doorstep every morning.

  2. Never Fear!!!! by SOOPRcow · · Score: 5, Funny

    We still have corn syrup!

    1. Re:Never Fear!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's like saying (at the family barbeque), "we still have McDonald's".

    2. Re:Never Fear!!!! by andrewagill · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's a concession to the sugar lobby!
      It's a concession to the corn lobby!

      It's a dessert topping *and* a floor wax! (actually, you can probably make both out of corn)

    3. Re:Never Fear!!!! by afidel · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yep, it's all natural, just like Arsenic,Strychnine, and Nightshade.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    4. Re:Never Fear!!!! by Dragonslicer · · Score: 3, Funny

      The other day, over a Mexican Coca Cola (real sugar), I said to my companion something along the lines of "drink up, this is the ONLY benefit of Free Trade for the common man".

      I've seen advertisements for Pepsi "Throwback", which is apparently regular Pepsi, but with real sugar. I almost cried at the realization that we've now come full circle.

  3. So that's how it works! by bearflash · · Score: 5, Funny

    In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women.

    1. Re:So that's how it works! by derGoldstein · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well that's great, but how does it work in Soviet Russia?...

      --
      Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
    2. Re:So that's how it works! by bearflash · · Score: 5, Funny

      In Soviet Russia, first the women get you, then the power gets you, then the sugar gets you!

    3. Re:So that's how it works! by cptnapalm · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sounds like an American divorce.

    4. Re:So that's how it works! by istartedi · · Score: 5, Funny

      In Soviet Russia, first the women get you, then the power gets you, then you brew the sugar into cheap vodka, then the vodka gets you.

      There. You fixed that for me.

      --
      For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  4. And so by sconeu · · Score: 4, Funny

    That government of the corporations
    By the corporations
    For the corporations
    Shall not perish from the Earth

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  5. Re:Free trade by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Quick, someone call Encyclopedia Britannica, National Geographic, NewsWeek, the UN and any other interested parties, Europe just got united to a country!

    Seems like you've got the scoop of the millennia, congratulations sir.

  6. Re:Level playing field by oldhack · · Score: 3, Funny

    Get a clue. We are just waiting for SP3 before upgrading.

    --
    Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
  7. Re:How about, BECAUSE THEY STILL OUR SHIT! by John+Jamieson · · Score: 2, Funny

    When they STILL our shit, what do they make?
    I know stills are used to produce alcohol and perfume, but our shit sure is not perfume.
    Maybe they use it to make our beer? Foreigners claim it tastes like ----. ;)

    Ahhh, If we can't laugh at ourselves, what can we laugh at.

  8. Throwback? by wile_e8 · · Score: 2, Funny

    So does this mean the limited time availability for me to buy Mountain Dew Throwback just got even more limited?

  9. Re:"Free" like I say by cpghost · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cuz increasingly that's all we have left. Especially now that money-printing business has hit the fan.

    Just copyright money. It should make it artificially scarce again.

    --
    cpghost at Cordula's Web.
  10. Re:Color me underwhelmed. by ArsonSmith · · Score: 2, Funny

    They hate our freedom!!

    --
    Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.