This seems to be referencing Regulation (EU) 654/2014, an EU law which allows the EU to unilaterally enact countermeasures against countries that break the WTO’s rules.
The countermeasures listed in article 5 are:
Imposing tarriffs and customs duties
Trade restrictions/quotas
Cancelling contracts between the EU and the target country
Cancelling the target country’s intellectual property rights (e.g. patents/copyrights)
Banning public procurement from the target country
Implementing price penalties for public procurement from the target country
The law was amended in Regulation (EU) 2021/167 in response to the Trump (and now Biden) administrations blocking the appointment of judges to the WTO and using a loophole to kill the WTO’s enforcement mechanism.
The fact that the EU can just suspend American patents and copyrights is pretty insane. Could be some huge benefits for European companies and movie pirates.
If EU did that, it would probably result in equal retaliation. It would mean that all patents and IP would become local. Stealing these things from others continents would become fair game, which would make patents and IP almost completely pointless.
Could we please try that out? Sounds like an interesting scenario.
You’re telling me we could have more diverse innovation that catered to the needs of individuals if we allowed people to create tools that help them and their neighbors instead of saying “some guy decided a hundred years ago, on the other side of the planet, that this is what this tool looked like. If you call something else by this name we’ll sue you and if you call something that looks like this something else we’ll sue you for that too”?
Can you imagine how much harder it would be to be a corrupt asshole if instead of screwing over millions unnamed people, you had to go and look all 30 of the relevant people in your life in the face and go “I wanna suck the money out of you by becoming the sole proprietor of this tool”?
The regulation text says that the measures are enacted by the European Commission putting out an implementing act. Article 7 says that they may repeal the implementation if the third country resolves the conflict. So it seems that they can only remove the measures if the third country gives up.
There’s also other fun regulations like it being illegal for EU companies to comply with US sanctions on Cuba. If they ever hit a roadblock of any kind they’re required to contact the EU commission who will help out in the form of civil servants specialised in sanction busting.
The EU would need to have the balls first. USAian propaganda has seeped into this continent for so long that it has affected the populace deeply. If the EU did something to threaten iPhone, WhatsApp, or Starbucks availability in the EU, that would be cause for an uprising.
This seems to be referencing Regulation (EU) 654/2014, an EU law which allows the EU to unilaterally enact countermeasures against countries that break the WTO’s rules.
The countermeasures listed in article 5 are:
The law was amended in Regulation (EU) 2021/167 in response to the Trump (and now Biden) administrations blocking the appointment of judges to the WTO and using a loophole to kill the WTO’s enforcement mechanism.
More context from the EU parliament:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/652021/EPRS_BRI(2020)652021_EN.pdf
The fact that the EU can just suspend American patents and copyrights is pretty insane. Could be some huge benefits for European companies and movie pirates.
❤️“Cancelling the target country’s intellectual property rights” ❤️
If EU did that, it would probably result in equal retaliation. It would mean that all patents and IP would become local. Stealing these things from others continents would become fair game, which would make patents and IP almost completely pointless.
Could we please try that out? Sounds like an interesting scenario.
You’re telling me we could have more diverse innovation that catered to the needs of individuals if we allowed people to create tools that help them and their neighbors instead of saying “some guy decided a hundred years ago, on the other side of the planet, that this is what this tool looked like. If you call something else by this name we’ll sue you and if you call something that looks like this something else we’ll sue you for that too”?
No, because someone else will file for the exact same patent locally at the exact moment the law is invoked.
Can you imagine how much harder it would be to be a corrupt asshole if instead of screwing over millions unnamed people, you had to go and look all 30 of the relevant people in your life in the face and go “I wanna suck the money out of you by becoming the sole proprietor of this tool”?
Stop, I can only get so erect!
Right? That’s not a threat. Lol
“Please, God, it would be so fucking funny”
The EU about to unleash the pirate parties on the US
Trump really does feel like what you get if you download “strong_president.mp3” off of livewire
strong_president.mp3.exe
Thanks for context!
I hope that as soon as the US will act more iffy, these countermeasures will kick in, as even the US should know then that they aren’t all mighty.
I don’t know if you have more info, but are these measures reversible or absolute?
The regulation text says that the measures are enacted by the European Commission putting out an implementing act. Article 7 says that they may repeal the implementation if the third country resolves the conflict. So it seems that they can only remove the measures if the third country gives up.
There’s also other fun regulations like it being illegal for EU companies to comply with US sanctions on Cuba. If they ever hit a roadblock of any kind they’re required to contact the EU commission who will help out in the form of civil servants specialised in sanction busting.
The EU would need to have the balls first. USAian propaganda has seeped into this continent for so long that it has affected the populace deeply. If the EU did something to threaten iPhone, WhatsApp, or Starbucks availability in the EU, that would be cause for an uprising.
Lol, did you notice you can opt out of tracking cookies on Meta, or that iPhones have USB-C connectors?
EU regulations got some pull. And also give a fair few fines.