A Blow To The Music And Movie Industry From Internet Gambling
The record industry and the music industry must be reeling since this story came out. They work so hard to sue 13-year-olds for downloading music that they missed getting this one.
In Trade Ruling, Antigua Wins a Right to Piracy
By JAMES KANTER and GARY RIVLINIn an unusual ruling on Friday at the World Trade Organization, the Caribbean nation of Antigua won the right to violate copyright protections on goods like films and music from the United States — an award worth up to $21 million — as part of a dispute between the countries over online gambling.
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 United States — by allowing it to distribute copies of American music, movie and software products.
A W.T.O. panel first ruled against the United States in 2004, and its appellate body upheld that decision a year later. In April 2005, the trade body gave the United States a year to comply with its ruling.
That deadline passed with little more than a statement from Washington that it had decided it was in compliance.
More of we are America, so we must be right. This is the GWBush philosophy. We have legal gambling in 48 states, yet want to make it illegal to gamble online. It’s not a morals issue where bush thinks gambling is wrong or anything. It’s a move to make sure that only US Gambling Enterprises can make money from gambling.
PartyPoker.com is located in another country. They illegally offered US citizens a way to gamble. Warrants were even issued for the owners. Yet you can buy stock in there company on the New York stock exchange.
Does this mean that even though cocaine is illegal, that if the cartels became a corporation it would be ok to buy stock in the cocaine importing business?
People buy stock in AT&T and general Motors and ignore the fact they are or at least were the two biggest porn distributors in the US. GM owns or owned Direct TV and AT&T pipes porn into hotel room across the US through it’s cable systems. It’s a highly profitable part of their business.
I bet the stockholders don’t run around telling people at the country club how much they made in dicidends from porn.
It’s hypocracy to make gambling online illegal while gambling is legal in 48 states. It’s bigger hypocracy to say a corporation is acting illegally and let it sell stock on the stock exchange. So people in the US can’t gamble in their online casinos but they can gamble on their stock?
I am happy that the movie industry and the record companies took the hit though. Couldn’t think of a better recipient of this Christmas cheer.
Stumble it!