Antigua's Win Demonstrates Impact of International Law and Trade On Internet
Submitted by Taran on Mon, 01/14/2008 - 13:34
It seems its International Law day on the Internet - after posting Bringing Reality To SecondLife: Lots of Countries, Lots of Laws, I ran across the resolution to the dispute between the US and Antigua on gambling - in the New York Times article, In Trade Ruling, Antigua Wins a Right to Piracy:
PARIS — In an unusual ruling on Friday at the World Trade Organization, the Caribbean nation of Antigua won the right to violate copyright protections on goods like films and music from the United States — an award worth up to $21 million — as part of a dispute between the countries over online gambling.
The award follows a W.T.O. ruling that Washington had wrongly blocked online gambling operators on the island from the American market at the same time it allowed online wagering on horse racing.
Antigua and Barbuda had claimed damages of $3.44 billion a year. That makes the relatively small amount awarded Friday, $21 million, something of a setback for Antigua, which had been struggling to preserve its gambling industry.
The United States argued that its behavior had caused $500,000 damage.
Yet the ruling is significant in that it grants a rare form of compensation: the right of one country, in this case Antigua, to violate intellectual property laws of another — the United States — by allowing it to distribute copies of American music, movie and software products...
...In May, the United States said it was rewriting its trade rules to remove gambling from the jurisdiction of the W.T.O.
Washington has agreed on deals with the European Union, Canada and Japan to change the treaty but not with several other nations, including Antigua.
On Friday, the United States trade representative issued a stern warning to Antigua to avoid acts of piracy, counterfeiting or violations of intellectual property rights while talks continue.
The trade office said such behavior would “undermine Antigua’s claimed intentions of becoming a leader in legitimate electronic commerce, and would severely discourage foreign investment” in the country.
The ability to use unlicensed works is odd, peculiar, strange and... somewhat intellectually erotic. It also demonstrates how international trade and law are all involved with 'virtual worlds' (synthetic worlds) that cross geopolitical borders. This is something I alluded to in my comments here as Nobody Fugazi.
Oddly, though, the synthetic worlds do not cross socioeconomic borders - but it seems quite likely that socioeconomic borders will be doing some shifting because of virtual worlds. After all, the US is now removing gambing from the WTO's list of duties...
Everyone has been playing with the tails of national sovereignity. It seems Antigua found its teeth and is willing to use them. This begs the question: Which nation will next exercise its teeth?
Small Market Virtual World
In relation to this, you proposed over on VB the idea that a real country could incorporate its currency into a virtual world. It had not occurred to me until you suggested it, but idea has a lot of appeal to me, and on reflection, I'd be very surprised if we do *not* see that happen in the next, say, five years.
Perhaps...
That will probably depend on the malleability of third world democracies... which are notoriously not so...
It's not over...
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