The background to this tale is that with considerable prescience Antigua had seen the writing on the casino wall and in 1994 engineered a place for itself in the online gambling world by passing its Free Trade & Processing Act. This act allowed licenses to be granted to organizations that applied to the government to open online casinos and all went well ... at least until the US made the use of online gambling services illegal for US citizens. The consequences for Antigua were profound. I quote from myself:
From a maximum revenue of $2.392 billion and 59% of global online gambling in 2001 while employing 1,014 people, the Antiguan online gambling industry shrunk to an estimated $948 million in 2007 and a miserly 7% of global online gambling with just 333 people employed.
In 2003 Antigua started proceedings with the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’) challenging the United States’ total prohibition on cross-border online gambling services and they won! Yep, in 2004 the WTO Dispute Panel found in Antigua's favor and when the US appealed the verdict the judgement was upheld. The US was given one year to correct its laws but ... and most of us will find little to surprise us here ... the country -- our country -- did nothing of the sort. We became international scofflaws.
Thereafter some ugly diplomacy ensued that saw the US try to wriggle out of its original WTO agreement but the WTO would have none of it. On January 28 this year, just nine months ago, the WTO authorized Antigua to suspend US copyrights. Yep, you read that right; Antigua can do as it pleases with US copyrights and US copyright holders can't do jack about it.
This means that under the WTO's authorization Antigua will be able to provide US copyrighted works on any terms they please to anyone without any compensation whatsoever to whichever American entities own the works up to a value to Antigua of $21 million annually!
Of course, what will make up the $21 million won't be goods sold at anything like US prices. For example, that $9.99 album you just bought on iTunes? Maybe it will be $0.99. Or less.
But that's just the tip of the copyright iceberg. Movies, books, ... and, yes, software! You name it ... it could be the biggest bargain basement sale in history and the financial impact on US copyright holders will be enormous if not bankrupting.What I can't figure out is why the likes of the RIAA and the MPAA aren't lobbying to get the US to reverse it position! It's unfathomable that these fearless protectors of copyright who have made a business out of harassing consumers under the banner of defending their members' rights can't see the incredible financial black hole their government has allowed to open and is willfully unwilling to deal with.
Lest you doubt that the Antiguan government will go through with their legal heist their PR firm just sent out a press release that explains:
Antigua and Barbuda’s “WTO Remedies Implementation Committee”, comprising of several persons with expertise in the areas of intellectual property rights, drafting of domestic intellectual property rights legislation, international trade policy and law, information technology and economics continues its work with the convening of a meeting geared towards harvesting benefits from Antigua & Barbuda’s WTO Gaming case ... Although its proceedings are confidential, the Committee is said to be recommending the establishment by the Government of Antigua & Barbuda of a statutory body to own, manage and operate the ultimate platform to be created for the monetisation or other exploitation of the suspension of American intellectual property rights authorised earlier this year by the WTO. It is understood that the necessary domestic legislation to implement the remedies is in the final stages of preparation for submission to Parliament. Additionally, an announcement regarding the opening of tenders for private sector participation in the operating of the platform should be announced shortly.
The Antiguan government is doing this right by putting the project on a solid footing of legislation and inviting the world's entrepreneurs to make it happen.
You may well find yourself paying a lot less for music, books, movies, and software this Christmas.
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