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The US Copyright Glass House cont'd

By Howard Knopf, Esq.

The European Commission has released a document entitled the UNITED STATES BARRIERS TO TRADE AND INVESTMENT REPORT 2008.

On the copyright front, it:

1. It notes the continued failure by the USA to address the violations adjudicated by the WTO in 2001 in the ?Irish Music? case, which I've mentioned many times in this blog, e.g. here.
2. It notes the continued failure of the US to provide broadcasting and or public performance rights to performers and producers and its failure to join the Rome Convention of 1961.
3. It notes the ?very limited extent? of moral rights in the USA, despite US accession to the Berne Convention in 1989.

The Report also notes the US multilateralism and unilateralism, as exemplified particularly in the notorious annual ?301" exercise, which has been rendered ?ineffective against WTO members? as a result of an EU challenge and 1999 WTO ruling.

Of course, the silly politics of the ?301" exercise remain, and we hear much the same recycled disinformation about Canada each year.

HT to IP-Watch.

HK

Full post as published by Excess Copyright on July 27, 2009 (boomark / email).