TheAgitator.com
Antigua Gets $21 Million
Wednesday, December 26th, 2007Cato’s Sallie James writes that the WTO has awarded Antigua $21 million in damages for its trade dispute with the U.S. over our Internet gambling laws. The little island country will get to recoup the losses by suspending copyright laws on U.S. goods within its borders, I guess until it estimates its economy has absorbed the $21 million in revenue.
The amount is far less than what Antigua wanted ($3.4 billion), and far more than what the U.S. claimed Antigua was due ($500,000). Unfortunately, I doubt that $21 million is enough to instigate a war between the copyright lobby and the moral blowhards behind the gambling ban, which would have been fun to watch. The recent settlement between the U.S. and Europe, Canada, and Japan means more damages taken out in copyright aren’t likely.
I wonder if U.S. citizens will be able to take advantage of the ruling to buy pirated CDs and movies from Antigua, or if the RIAA and MPAA will pressure the federal government into banning Internet and postal transactions with copyright violators who set up shop in Antigua.
The good news I guess is that trade, globalization, and techology have made it much more difficult for the government to enforce dumb morality laws. The bad news is, they’re still trying.
Airfare and hotel from Houston to Antigua for 2 weeks: $4,600
Kayak trip while there: $75.00
Bonus $250.00 in casino chips: Free
Ability to pirate anything I want from the US: Priceless.
The $21 million is annualy. So they get to break the copyrights on $21 million until the US changes the law. Good for them.
On my blog tobaccoland dot us I suggest that the government of Antigua should be able to hack into the bank accounts of the President and the Congressmen who supported these restrictions in order to get back their money. The idea that the creative community in the US (of which I consider myself a small part as I have recently published a book - see link on name) should suffer is absurd. Make Bush and his Christian fundamentalists friends pay for their illegal restrictions.
Sorry for the shameless self promotion.
Actually, this is a big deal if they estimate the worth of each good at the cost to fabricate a CD or DVD. If they sell goods at that price, you’d have copies of Microsoft Office going for $0.10/copy. That would really, really add up in damages.
Let’s see, the moralizing goons in our government screwed up, but someone else—copyright holders—will have to pay. Isn’t that just typical.
I can’t wait for the RIAA stormtroopers to blockade the island.
Punishing the owners of US-originated IP for the sins of the Federal Government is hardly a fair decision. Why does the WTO even exist?
Yeah, I have to agree with above comments. I think Copyright and the entire concept of “intellectual property” are corrupt, but there’s no connection here. Much as I want to see the RIAA and MPAA suffer, I want to see them suffer for their own sins, not someone else’s.
21 million is fine, Heck $1 is fine. They just deduct 1/100000 of a cent for every copy right violation. Continue to do this until the rake up their 21 million in credit. Then they get to infringe in the copyrights 2.1e+14 times. However there is a transaction cost associated with this. It’s approximately 1/100000 of a cent, so they never actually deduct anything from their initial credit and continue on for ever — at least that’s how I would argue it if I were Antigua.