Europe Targets US Over Piracy

The United States is frequently seen as an enforcer of copyright laws. Recently, it seems as though Europe is demanding that the US holds up their end of the copyright bargain.

The United States copyright industry is credited for numerous instances of enforcing their copyright’s internationally. The most recent example is the case between the IIPA and Israel. While far from the first instance of enforcement of “intellectual property rights”, it may be a surprise to some to see the United States receiving a complaint about enforcing copyright laws from abroad.

This is exactly what has happened. The complaint comes from the ambassador from Europe to the United States John Bruton who says, “As the stakes continue to grow in the intellectual property arena, the U.S. should not weaken its voice in the debate by ignoring treaty obligations and WTO decisions. American delay on fixing the ‘Irish Music’ and ‘Havana Club’ cases diminish the arguments that both the U.S. and EU countries have against China and other countries that continue to tolerate widespread intellectual property rights infringement.”

“Happily, our relatively few – but important – cases are to be seen in the larger transatlantic context where cooperation on intellectual property enforcement is working successfully to combat piracy and counterfeiting. Today’s counterfeit goods aren’t just handbags and clothing, after all. They are fake medicines, toys, and electrical appliances, even knock-off airplane parts! Think about that as you board your next flight.”

One of the two cases involves the royalties of music – music that’s being retransmitted. Known as the “Irish Music” case, the United States is accused of halting royalty payments to copyright holders since 2004. The accusation is that commercial establishments in the US have played music and not paid ’satisfactory’ royalties long before 2004. The World Trade Organization looked at the case and ruled in favor of Europe saying that this activity was in violation of the TRIPS agreement. The disagreement continues on to this very day.

The ambassador does have a very interesting point. It would make enforcement of intellectual property rights difficult if the members that are applying pressure in the first place are in disagreement with each other in the first place. A rift between the partners over piracy could prove much more damaging than the lost compensation in question given that other countries could rightfully ask if their intellectual property rights would be respected in a similar manner should they decide to enter into any intellectual property rights agreements with the United States who seem more than happy to enforce copyright laws in other countries.

Hat Tip: The IP Factor

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