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The $21 million Antigua won in arbitration today was $3.38 billion less than they had desired and $20.5 million more than the US claimed they owed the small island nation.
The sanctions will allow Antigua to offer pirated copies of music, movies, and software from the United States, but the amount they will be allowed to pirate will not have a significant effect on any American industry.
What an absolute joke :Cry:
im gutted and absolutely gobsmacked :flush:
just read the same what the f*cking f*ck :flush:
Another victory for the Bush dictatorship, and further proof that the WTO is nothing more than a puppet of the U.S.
Well, 2 down, 1 to go. I’m sure it’s just a matter of days before the IMega case gets dismissed. I guess the only true hope is that UIGEA doesn’t get implemented within the year AND we get a DEM in the White House. Then, this will all fade away, and the status quo for today will persist. Life will never be the same though since before 10/2006.
I guess the only true hope is that UIGEA doesn’t get implemented within the year AND we get a DEM in the White House. Then, this will all fade away, and the status quo for today will persist.
I still don’t understand why is Bush and the GOP being blamed for the UIGEA.
a). The President does not pass laws.
b.) the Democrats also voted for the UIGEA – I don’t see how a Dem president will help the industry. If anything GOP candidates have solid ties or speak publicly for gambling… If Giuliani becomes president – mark my word, Frank’s bill will pass the next day – http://www.ogpaper.com/news/news-01299.htmlLet’s face it – the Dems have ruled Congress for a while now and nothing has been done (for the gambling industry or otherwise). What we need is another Abramoff – someone to grease the wheels, but since the gambling firms are less organized than any other business – we are in this mess now.
P.S. No party affiliation here, just clear observation.
Another read:
US urges Antigua to delay WTO sanctions on Internet gambling
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States Friday urged Antigua to hold off on imposing sanctions authorized by the WTO in a dispute over online gambling, saying Washington was revising its WTO commitments.
Spicer said Washington has initiated a formal process at the WTO to revise its commitments and is in talks with Antigua and six other WTO members that have claimed to be affected.
@Stupid 148998 wrote:
I still don’t understand why is Bush and the GOP being blamed for the UIGEA.
a). The President does not pass laws.
b.) the Democrats also voted for the UIGEA – I don’t see how a Dem president will help the industry. If anything GOP candidates have solid ties or speak publicly for gambling… If Giuliani becomes president – mark my word, Frank’s bill will pass the next day – http://www.ogpaper.com/news/news-01299.htmlLet’s face it – the Dems have ruled Congress for a while now and nothing has been done (for the gambling industry or otherwise). What we need is another Abramoff – someone to grease the wheels, but since the gambling firms are less organized than any other business – we are in this mess now.
P.S. No party affiliation here, just clear observation.
Stupid,
No party affiliation here either. Kyle, Goodlatte, Frist, etc., were responsible for engineering the law, and sneaking it into a bill at the last minute. The law was signed by Bush. No Rep or Dem was about to vote against the Ports Act, to save Internet gambling.
Although the field for 2008 Prez is real slim pickins, Paul is probably the best for the industry (and maybe the country), but there is no chance he will be able to mount an attack greater than either major party’s resultant candidate.
The President has way too much power (VETO power), and this has been the prime reason for gridlock over the last year. There is way to much difference of opinion out there, and no clear cut majority. Even if the (small) majority leaders – DEMs – attempt to pass something, with Bush in there, he will veto anything he doesn’t agree with. The only we get a chance in the way government works is if we elect a DEM president, or an extremely moderate Republican, like Ron Paul. Guiliani is not the answer, IMO, regardless of where his stance on online gambling is.
In a conference call held midday on Friday the successful Antigua lawyer, Mark Mendel, pointed out that Antigua cannot be vilified by the United States government as criminals as they will not actually be breaking copyright and piracy laws.
Antigua now allowed to sell music, movies, software for pennies on the dollar.
I am not trying to start a political discussion, on the contrary, I just want to underline the fact that it has nothing to do with politics, per se.
At the Congress there is only one way for passing laws – lobbying (i.e. legal bribe). It’s not a way or the right way – it’s THE way. It has nothing to do with politics but with the fact that no gambling company took the initiative to spread some of the butter on the Congress’ toast and that’s why the UIGEA was passed. If all the publicly traded gambling companies put aside one day worth of turnover for lobbying – we will have legal onlne gambling in no time. But, what do you do….
Example – horse racing industry. They weren’t exempt just because Kyl loves horses, they paid the tab.
New York Times just took the same angle as we just wrote about, more extensively…
@CGW 149006 wrote:
Antigua now allowed to sell music, movies, software for pennies on the dollar.
One comment, and several questions:
Comment:
I heard the CC, and Mendel, who in my opinion sounded defeated (and not successful), said that there is no way Antigua will do anything imminently in terms of sanctions. Antigua is still hoping that the US will reverse its decision of keeping out foreign online gambling establishments (real fat chance of that happening). He mentioned, I think fairly arbitrarily, that Antigua may wait 6 months before imposing any of these “allowable” sanctions.
Questions:
1) For both this decision and the EU decision this week, it has been pointed out by some, that the US Congress needs to ratify any of these decisions. Assuming that this is the case, would Congress agree to ratifying the nebulous EU decision, and would Congress agree to ratify a decision that will allow Antigua to peddle DVD’s, software, etc. on pennies on the dollar ?
2) How on earth could the U.S. keep track of the intellectual property being sold out of Antigua ? This type of decision would surely be opposed by the Music, movie, and software industries, and would certainly foster a “legal” (of sorts) black market to emerge.
3) What’s the deal on the retration article that Integrity just posted ???
I think we may need an EMERGENCY issue of Perspectives Weekly to put all of this in perspective, if that it at all possible………….
Its clearly going to take some time to see all the fallout on this. I know Ill be in line to buy a crapload of HD DVD’s for $3 each if this goes that way.
@Poker Dude 149011 wrote:
One comment, and several questions:
Comment:
I heard the CC, and Mendel, who in my opinion sounded defeated (and not successful), said that there is no way Antigua will do anything imminently in terms of sanctions. Antigua is still hoping that the US will reverse its decision of keeping out foreign online gambling establishments (real fat chance of that happening). He mentioned, I think fairly arbitrarily, that Antigua may wait 6 months before imposing any of these “allowable” sanctions.
Questions:
1) For both this decision and the EU decision this week, it has been pointed out by some, that the US Congress needs to ratify any of these decisions. Assuming that this is the case, would Congress agree to ratifying the nebulous EU decision, and would Congress agree to ratify a decision that will allow Antigua to peddle DVD’s, software, etc. on pennies on the dollar ?
2) How on earth could the U.S. keep track of the intellectual property being sold out of Antigua ? This type of decision would surely be opposed by the Music, movie, and software industries, and would certainly foster a “legal” (of sorts) black market to emerge.
3) What’s the deal on the retration article that Integrity just posted ???
I think we may need an EMERGENCY issue of Perspectives Weekly to put all of this in perspective, if that it at all possible………….
The New York Times article addressed these questions, and you’re right about the entire situation.
Mendel was successful in this case, even though the outcome was not large, he did win the case. Yes, he obviously felt defeated and quite frankly it was discouraging to hear his views on the situation. Saying how it is hard for Antigua to fight because it is Mendel against the entire US government’s source of lawyers and trade experts, was discouraging.
The most curious situation, as Poker Dude pointed out, is how much the copyright material Antigua can sell. Antigua will say what they sold so far was worth $5,000 and the US will say it is worth $50,000, as stated in the New York Times article.
The unfortunate part, as Poker Dude also pointed out, is that I do not believe Antigua has any idea how to implement these new ‘rights’ to sell this material.
The most extensive analysis of the situation that has been published so far comes from Burke Hansen of The Register. Those that would like clarification of all that is going on, including the lengthy conference call today with Antigua lawyer Mark Mendel, should read this article thoroughly…
