Zookz, lawks and crikey

You might recall a while back, the World Trade Organisation decided that American bans on online gambling infringed the rights of Antigua and - after toying with the idea of making Americans work as butlers for Antiguans - decided that Antigua should be allowed recompense by ignoring a bunch of US copyrights?

Well, despite the crazy sentence never quite having been fully worked through, a company called Zookz is taking the WTO at its word and launching a sort-of legal illegal download subscription service.

Only they probably don't have the right to do it, and they haven't got much in the way of content anyway. Cheeky, rather than a real challenge.

Antigua wins right to violate Americans

The World Trade Organisation has granted Antigua the right to ignore American copyrights, up to a value of USD21million.

The smaller nation had been seeking recompense after claiming unfair treatment when American barred its citizens from using their online gambling services. They'd been claiming rather more - three billions worth of opt-outs - but the precedent is more alarming for US intellectual property holders than the amounts.

The details of the settlement are going to be as controversial as the judgement itself:

“Even if Antigua goes ahead with an act of piracy or the refusal to allow the registration of a trademark, the question still remains of how much that act is worth,” said Brendan McGivern, a trade lawyer with White & Case in Geneva.

“The Antiguans could say that’s worth $50,000, and then the U.S. might say that’s worth $5 million.” He predicted that “the U.S. is going to dog them on every step of the way.”

Maybe, but it cuts both ways - how, exactly, can the US police this effectively? The supposed cut-off figure is one thing, but if every shop in Antigua suddenly starts flogging DVDs of I Am Legend and CDs of John Legend, how can the MPAA and RIAA hope to prove that any one disc is outside the terms of the judgement, without spending even more cash?

Meanwhile - and as it's Christmas - feel a little bit of sympathy for the music and movie industries. They're not to blame for the blocking of the American access to online casinos, and yet it's they who are taking the punishment. If we were them, we'd be thinking it might be time to stop pumping cash into the two political parties - seeing as it's not exactly helping them...

Fear for the RIAA: Antigua requests the right to ignore US copyright

There's an interesting case in front of the World Trade Organisation at the moment: Antigua has twice won rulings against the US that the US ban on American citizens gambling online is unfair restraint of trade.

America has a problem in complying with the ruling - either the nation drops the rule, or it has to axe all forms of online gaming for its citizens: fantasy baseball, lottery, the lot.

Naturally, this has thrown the political class into something of a Walt Disney style freeze. But while they've been trying to think what to do - appealing has failed twice - Antigua is getting impatient, and now a lawyer working on the smaller country's behalf has tabled a proposal:

Mr. Mendel, who is claiming $3.4 billion in damages on behalf of Antigua, has asked the trade organization to grant a rare form of compensation if the American government refuses to accept the ruling: permission for Antiguans to violate intellectual property laws by allowing them to distribute copies of American music, movie and software products, among others.

Far-fetched? Not really: Ecuador once won a similar ruling, but chose to use the bargaining power of the opt-out of IP rights to win concessions from Washington. Antigua, of course, might decide that the power to legally violate American copyrights might prove more lucrative than any deal the US would want to cut.