Antigua Considering Moving Forward on Piracy

March 22, 2008

It seems that the US government has their head so far you know where that they truly cannot see the forest for the trees. The World Trade Organization has already awarded the country of Antigua in the online gambling case they brought against the US, but that does not seem to concern them at all.

With the US continuing its ban of online gambling payment processing, the government of Antigua has threatened to move forward with their rights as awarded to them by the WTO but the government is refusing to budge. They have told the US that they are going to move forward with the �abrogate intellectual property treaties with the US by the end of March� which would entail them authorizing �wholesale copying of American movies, music and other 'soft targets'.�

They have asked the Bush administration to work with them to settle a trade dispute that came about once the US attempted to ban online gambling, but they have not responded to their requests. This means that all movies, books, software, etc. would be able to be copied by those within the country and sold without a dime of it going back to the US.

Obviously groups such as the Motion Picture Association of America has been watching to see what the US is going to do about this as they are the group that would suffer the most. They say that something will need to be done about it for Antigua will only be the beginning of a much larger picture. Any country that has a beef with the US about the online gambling ban or any trade dispute could simply take what they want.

The people of Antigua say that it is not their purpose to punish the MPAA; however, they must have justification for the people of their island. With the US refusing to work with them and �negotiate fairly� the country has no other choice.

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