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From the
Roll Call article :
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RIAA spokeswoman Liz Kennedy e-mailed a statement saying her group opposes such a form of sanctions.
“If Antigua were to ‘withdraw’ its TRIPS commitments, it would simultaneously be violating other aspects of its international obligations — including under the Berne Convention,” she said, referring to the 19th century international convention on copyright law. “Moreover, it would presumably be permitting conduct that would violate its own internal domestic legislation, including its criminal law. Does it make sense for a country to expressly allow criminal conduct? We believe that it most certainly does not.”
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So the RIAA spokeswoman is basically saying there are other obligations besides the WTO that would prevent Antigua from selling cheap CDs/movies. Is this a valid point?
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This is not really a valid point. If Antigua gets permission from the WTO to ignore US copyrights, that would be the controlling ruling, not a 19th century treaty. Note that she "presumes" Antigua has a law against copyright infringement (it probably does but if this spokesperson were doing anything more than grandstanding she would have looked it up). It aint that hard for Antigua to change its law if it gets the WTO go ahead.
Skallagrim