In August, the World Trade Organization (WTO) decided in favor of the United States in a dispute over the sale of American films, books and music in China.
Today, China has appealed the decision, however the documents are not public as of yet.
The ruling had pitted China against the US, over China’s internal decision to force American products to be routed through state-owned companies. Over the past decade China has limited the amount of foreign products that enter the Chinese market, while at the same time exporting the most goods and creating a gigantic surplus.
The August decision was almost completely in favor of the US and its complaining parties, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Universal, 20th Century Fox, EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, McGraw Hill and Simon & Schuster.
The WTO agreed rules were being broken, but did not agree with the US on the argument that the censorship was slowing sales in the nation.
The appellate ruling is not expected until January.
Result for: world trade organization
It’s no secret that certain elements in the US Federal Government would like to see all copyright infringement criminalized and the Department of Justice used as an enforcement agency for intellectual property owners. What gets less publicity is the work by the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) to similarly effect the law in other countries. Earlier this week the USTR’s office issued a press release declaring victory in one such case against China, but behind their celebration is actually a significant defeat.
Although the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed with US claims that China isn’t living up to their obligation to protect foreign copyrights under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The portion of the treaty in question requires that all participants at least criminalize willful commercial infringement of intellectual property.
Specifically, a WTO panel concluded that the US hadn’t profided any real evidence since it was all in the form of newspaper clippings. According to the WTO report, “the Panel does not ascribe any weight to the evidence in the press articles and finds that, even if it did, the information that these press articles contain is inadequate to demonstrate what is typical or usual in China for the purposes of the relevant treaty obligation.”
The report further admonished the US for substituting claims of bad behavior for evidence of specific wrong doing. The report says “A complaining party may not simply submit evidence and expect the panel to divine from it a claim of WTO-inconsistency. Nor may a complaining party simply allege facts without relating them to its legal arguments.”
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Result for: world trade organization
In an effort to get back at the US for its interference with the small country’s internet gambling operations, Antigua is threatening to make US movie and music piracy legal, unless its grievances are “properly addressed and losses compensated for.”
In 2003, Antigua initially claimed that the US “unlawfully prevented its online gambling operators from accessing American markets although the US allowed domestic online bets for sporting events like horse racing.” At the time the country claimed $3.4 billion USD in losses and made a case with the World Trade Organization. It won the case but was only awarded $21 million USD.
Out of retaliation, Antigua is now threatening to allow (make legal)“virtually everything from pharmaceuticals to music, anything with IP protection that can be duplicated,” added Mark E. Mendel, who represents Antigua in the affair.
“It is not our preferred option to punish the MPAA or others for the U.S. government’s intransigence, but the U.S. has refused to negotiate fairly,” he said.
Mendel added that Antigua has been trying to work out a deal that would allow online gambling between the nations but that the US is being unreasonable and “using every possible appeal, counterattack and side attack it could think of. We’ve been through five separate full-blown WTO proceedings on this and have won every step of the way.”
In December 2007, the WTO ruled that “Antigua could exact damages by ignoring IP agreements with the U.S. should a negotiated settlement fail.” The US has yet to respond to the dispute.
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