The government is plotting its next move now that it has drawn derision from the United States for not doing enough to protect intellectual property and remedy shortfalls in its copyright laws.
Last week, the United States Trade Representative issued its report on countries with the worst record of protecting copyright material like American made movies and computer programmes.
The Bahamas was among the 50 countries listed, a move that the Prime Minister Perry Christie led administration says it is disappointed about.
The government was quick to point out that it is committed to fulfilling obligations made but not implemented by the previous administration.
“The government is deeply disappointed that this measure has been taken, despite good faith efforts on the part of successive governments including this administration to address the copyright concerns of the United States Trade Representative and the producers of programmes in the United States,” a statement from the Minister of Financial Services and Investments Allyson Maynard-Gibson noted.
Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell in Washington D.C. met with legal advisors there on Friday to help determine what the Bahamas’ next step should be.
The Intellectual Property Alliance in the U. S. estimates that global piracy costs that country more than $22 billion annually. The 50 countries listed on the USTR annual report reportedly accounted for $9.8 billion of those annual losses, according to the alliance.
Protection of intellectual property is an increasingly important component of U.S. trade policy.
“Open markets and rules that guarantee the protection of intellectual property are critical to the continued health of the creative sectors of our economy,” a representative in the Office of U.S. Trade Robert Zoellick said in a statement. Mr. Zoellick had said earlier this year that a key concern was the existence of provisions in the Bahamian law allowing for compulsory licensing to cable operators of retransmission of premium cable television programming, urging the government to swiftly enact the necessary amendments to its copyright laws.
He also encouraged U.S. copyright owners and operators of premium cable services to enter into good faith negotiations with licensed cable operators in the Bahamas. The arrangement would provide good faith negotiations with licensed Bahamian cable companies to provide voluntary licensing on commercial terms for the cable transmission of copyrighted works in the Bahamas.
On April 15, the Government of the Bahamas gave a commitment to its American counterparts that it would fulfil the obligations made but not carried out by its predecessors.
In September 2000, the Bahamas Government made a commitment to improve intellectual property protection by amending certain “objectionable” provisions in its copyright laws.
In a communication to the USTR, the government vowed to enact legislation within this session of parliament that would remedy copyright deficiencies, Minister Maynard Gibson confirmed.
But the move was apparently not enough to placate the concerns of the United States, leaving this country placed on a Priority Watch List for special monitoring from U.S. trade officials in the coming year.
Their intention is to press for improvements in the enforcement of intellectual property laws.
“We are advised that the next time this matter will be reviewed by the United States Trade Office will be next year. We are further advised that in the immediate and short term it is unlikely that any sanctions will ensue and so any immediate negative impact is unlikely,” the Minister said.
The copyright report noted that the U.S. reserves the right to bring the cases against offending countries before the world trade organization if negotiations fail to resolve the problems.
Other countries placed on the Priority Watch List were Argentina, Brazil, the 15-nation-European Union, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, the Phillipines, Poland, Russia and Taiwan.
The Bahama Journal
