BTA TRIPS Provisions & BSA Piracy Estimate Inequities?

[Please pardon any cross-posts (as there are sure to be a few), but this
seems relevant to both the VNBiz and Open-Source Software (VietNam) lists.]

Is anyone on the list(s) familiar with the legal, socio-economic and even
some of the politics behind how penalties are determined for Intellectual
Property (IP) violations under the Trade-Related IP Provisions (TRIPS) of
the WTO and BTA?

I extended a table from the presentation of Jordi Carrasco-Muñoz, Economic
and Political Advisor,
EC Delegation to Vietnam, for the 2nd Open-source Software Conference in
HaNoi 2002, to re-present some of the BSA (Business Software Alliance)
piracy estimates as per capita indices and they would seem to reverse many
of the ratings published by the BSA (whose estimation methods are
reportedly already questionable at best).

On a piracy-per-capita basis, VietNam would be one of the least significant
offenders (as might seem obvious), instead of what the BSA has been calling
the world's worst piracy nation for the last two years running. Conversely,
the US and France would be two examples of the worst offenders.

As i understand it, and as the president of the IIPA (International
Intellectual Property Ass'n) once put it, penalties based on the BTA's and
WTO's TRIPS provisions are generally applied against a nation's exports in
general, without any attempt to target the actual "offending" computers users.

So wouldn't it make more sense ("Justice" even) to only use the BSA piracy
estimates (as passed to the IIPA for trade negotiation purposes) only on a
per capita basis?

Would it make any difference in the vacuum of ethics that seems to
encompass the geopolitics of trade these days? Specifically, would it help
with VietNam's BTA negotiations or WTO accession?

I can put up a URL to a spreadsheet sample of 9 countries including VietNam
and references to relevant BSA, WTO, TRIPS and IIPA web pages and news
reports if requested.

If some sponsorship could be found, i think i could present a draft of the
whole "socio-econometric" argument with examples and a dissection of the
BSA's estimation methods (within about two week's worth of cross-checking,
referencing and writing).

All the best,
Andi
*--------------------------------------------------*
AD Marshall, VietInfoComm&Edu [VICE]-8 Consulting
* CompTIA Linux+, Linux Registered User 251932 *
Vietnam Information Communications & Education
ParadoxCafe-VietNamAsia HTTP://ParadoxCafe.Com
Post: 8A/G8 Don Dat, Q.1, TpHCM, VietNam
eM01: MailTo:AD.VICE@ParadoxCafe.Net
Web01: HTTP://WWW.VICEConsulting.Com
Web02: HTTP://WWW.aXiServe.Net
Cell: +84 (0)903871313
YIM: ad_marshall
*--------------------------------------------------*
GPG/PGP Public Keys & Fingerprints:
http://h0lug.sourceforge.net/gpgpgp.html
*--------------------------------------------------*
*--------------- Country Maintainer ---------------*
*--- Linux Users Counter - VietNam (Vie^.t Nam) ---*
*---- http://counter.li.org/bycountry/VN.html -----*
*-------------- Count Your Self *IN* --------------*
*--------------------------------------------------*
*------------------- Founder ----------------------*
*-- Hø Chi Minh City Linux Users' Group (HøLUG) ---*
*--------- http://h0lug.sourceforge.net -----------*
*----- http://sourceforge.net/projects/h0lug ------*
*--------------------------------------------------*

To facilitate co-ordination regarding the introduction of OSS SW in Vietnam

Subscribe to OSS:

Subscribe | Unsubscribe