Ken Cook, writing on Saturday at The Mulch Blog http://www.mulchblog.com/2007/12/in_antiguas_wto_victory_a_poss.php , pointed to a recent WTO case regarding Antigua that could have an important impact on the Brazil cotton case http://www.farmpolicy.com/?p=572 .

"In June 2005, Brazilian trade experts raised the prospect of an unusual form of trade retaliation if the United States failed to rectify aspects of its cotton subsidies found by the WTO to cause 'serious prejudice' against cotton farmers in Brazil and other countries. The idea was to allow retaliation not in goods, but through legalized infringement upon U.S. intellectual property rights. In other words, Brazil would fight back through WTO-sanctioned acts of piracy," Mr. Cook noted.

The update indicated that, "As EWG wrote at the time http://www.ewg.org/node/8759 :

"'What if the U.S. does not comply with the WTO's broad rulings and fails to reform its multi-billion dollar cotton subsidy programs to Brazil's satisfaction? What retaliatory trade measures could Brazil possibly adopt that would force an economic giant like the United States to change a politically entrenched farm subsidy system?

"'The beginnings of an answer may be unveiled in Brasilia today, at a congressional hearing convened to examine a novel trade retaliation strategy: At issue is how Brazil might compel cotton subsidy reforms here by suspending the intellectual property rights protection American companies now enjoy in Brazil for a wide array of knowledge-based products, from pharmaceuticals, computers, software, and biotechnology, to books, musical recordings and films.

"'In other words, no reform by the U.S. in response to the WTO cotton decision might mean no patent or copyright protection in Brazil for targeted American drugs, computers, biotech crops, or the latest music CDs and DVD movies.'"

In recent developments on this point, Mr. Cook noted that, "Now the Times reports that Antigua has won just such a right of retaliation against the United States in an online gambling case at the WTO."

In part, the Times article ("In Trade Ruling, Antigua Wins a Right to Piracy http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/22/business/worldbusiness/22gambling.html?_r =1&oref=slogin ") stated that, "In an unusual ruling on Friday at the World Trade Organization, the Caribbean nation of Antigua won the right to violate copyright protections on goods like films and music from the United States - an award worth up to $21 million - as part of a dispute between the countries over online gambling."

Complete overview and analysis on this issue is available here http://www.mulchblog.com/2007/12/in_antiguas_wto_victory_a_poss.php .

Keith Good

FarmPolicy.com is a free newsletter and is made possible by the generous support of The German Marshall Fund of the United States http://www.gmfus.org/trade/template/index.cfm .

Keith Good President FarmPolicy.com, Inc.
Journalism Fellow German Marshall Fund of the United States
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