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IP hypocrisy: US likes WTO rulings only when it wins

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Two ongoing cases illustrate the point. First, the European Union is pushing for the US to change a pair of rules that it calls "long-standing trade irritants." Despite World Trade Organization rulings against it, the US has not yet corrected either case for a period of several years. Ambassador John Bruton, who represents the EU in the US, said in a statement late last week that he wants to see the matters resolved.

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The so-called "Irish Music" dispute concerns the portion of US copyright law that lets restaurants and shops play broadcast music without compensating the copyright holders.

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The Havana Club issues stems from the long-standing US effort to impose sanctions on Cuba. The US reduced the rights of US companies who owned trademarks "which previously belonged to a Cuban national or company expropriated in the course of the Cuban revolution." Such marks, including "Havana Club Rum," were no longer protected in the US, could not be renewed, and could not be enforced. This makes EU companies that have invested in Cuban business less than pleased, especially when they believe that US drink makers were behind the rule change.

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The second case concerns Antigua and Barbuda, a small Caribbean country home to all sorts of online vices, including gambling and DRM circumvention. Antigua took the US to the WTO years ago over charges that the US was unfairly criminalizing access to Antiguan gambling websites while still allowing US-based horse racing sites to function. The WTO ruled against the US on several occasions, including a 2007 ruling that found the US had not yet bothered to comply with previous rulings.

In retaliation, Antigua has announced a radical plan in an attempt to force its larger neighbor to play ball. The Antiguan government has recently stated that it will allow piracy of US intellectual property such as movies and music unless the US changes its gambling policy (though this move has yet to be authorized by the WTO).

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