In an unusual ruling at the WTO, the Caribbean nation of Antigua on Friday won the right to violate copyright protections on goods like films and music from the US, an award worth up to US$21 million, as part of a dispute between the two countries over online gambling.
The award follows a WTO ruling that Washington had wrongly blocked online gaming operators on the island from the US market at the same time it allowed online wagering on horse racing.
Antigua and Barbuda had claimed damages of US$3.44 billion a year. That makes the relatively small amount awarded on Friday something of a setback for Antigua, which had been struggling to preserve its gambling industry. The US claimed that its behavior had caused US$500,000 damage to the Antiguan economy.
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 US, by allowing it to distribute copies of US music, movie and software products.
"That has only been done once before and is, I believe, a very potent weapon," said Mark Mendel, a lawyer representing Antigua, after the ruling. "I hope that the United States government will now see the wisdom in reaching some accommodation with Antigua over this dispute."
Though Antigua is best known for its beaches and tourist attractions, online casinos based there are vital to its economy, serving as its second-largest employer.
By pressing its claim, trade lawyers said, Antigua could set a precedent for other countries to sue the US for unfair trade practices, potentially opening the door to electronic piracy and other dubious practices around the world.
Still, implementation will prove difficult, the lawyers say.
"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 US$50,000, and then the US might say that's worth US$5 million -- and I can tell you that the US is going to dog them on every step of the way."
The US has aggressively fought Antigua's claims.
A WTO panel first ruled against the US in 2004, and its appellate body upheld that decision a year later. In April 2005, the trade body gave the US a year to comply with its ruling, but that deadline passed with little more than a statement from Washington that it had reviewed its laws and decided it has been in compliance.
From the start, the US has asserted that it never intended to allow free, cross-border gambling or betting. Those activities are restricted in the US, though some form of gambling is legal in 48 of 50 states.
In May, the US announced that it was rewriting its trade rules to remove gambling services from the jurisdiction of the WTO.
Washington has already agreed on deals with the EU, Canada and Japan to change the treaty but it has yet to reach agreements with several other nations, including Antigua.
On Friday, the US trade representative issued a stern warning to Antigua to avoid acts of piracy, counterfeiting or violations of intellectual property while negotiations are under way.
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) said it has come up with a new pathway to shorten its gap with industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), potentially achieving a breakthrough in making advanced semiconductors without cutting-edge equipment. Right now there is about a five-year gap between what TSMC is capable of and what Huawei, together with its manufacturing partner Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯), can produce. Huawei is to start making 1.4-nanometer chips by 2031 with its own “LogicFolding” technology, Huawei semiconductor chief He Tingbo (何庭波) said in a rare public appearance during a chip conference yesterday, while TSMC has
RSS