US Blocking Costa
Rican Sugar From US Markets...
From the how-nice dept at
www.techdirt.com
We were just talking about whether or not
countries are really able to push back on
the US's attempts to export draconian
anti-competition/anti-innovation copyright
and patent policies elsewhere.
Michael Geist points us to two cases where
US trade representatives are going overboard
in trying to get foreign countries to put in
place stringent intellectual property rules.
The first is in Costa Rica, which is
included in the Central America Free Trade
Agreement (CAFTA).
Yet like with other free trade agreements
that the US has agreed to elsewhere, this
one includes draconian intellectual property
law requirements. I still cannot understand
why intellectual monopoly protectionism --
the exact opposite of "free trade" -- gets
included in free trade agreements.
At least in Costa Rica, a lot of people
started protesting these rules, pointing out
that it would be harmful for the economy,
for education and for healthcare.
So the Costa Rican government has not moved
forward with such laws.
How has the US responded?
It's blocking access to the US market of
Costa Rican sugar until Costa Rica approves
new copyright laws.
Nice of the US, right? Bankrupting Costa
Rican farmers to force Costa Rica to put in
place a copyright regime it does not want.
Then there's the Bahamas, where US trade
representatives are demanding new
intellectual property laws, claiming that
the country is not in agreement with WTO
treaties.
Apparently, the USTR is particularly upset
about the police force in the Bahamas not
cracking down on the sale of unauthorized
DVDs, CDs and counterfeit clothing.
However, as the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce
president notes, nearly all of those
counterfeit products actually originated in
the US -- and that the majority of people
doing the buying are US tourists. In other
words, the issue is really with the US, but
it seems to want everyone else to deal with
it.
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