Article
in today's Washington Times on Brazil, piracy, and whether the U.S. should
be making nice or cracking down on Brazil for significant trade violations--especially
IP.
A couple of comments. First, obviously, IP policy is only one of several factors to take into account in international relations. We're overlooking an awful lot with an awful lot of countries under the guise of helping us with the War on Terrorism--just as we did with our friends in the Cold War. But IP is extremely important to our economy. And just how much help do we expect to get from Brazil on other fronts, anyway?
Second, we're letting Brazil get away with having it both ways--claiming to be a poor, developing nation on the one hand and begging for bargain basement prices on drugs, a pass on copyright piracy, low interest development loans, etc. But all the while, Brazil is selling Embraer jets to U.S. companies like American Airlines (of which I am a proud customer).
Is an economy that can turn out world class jet airliners still an economy that should expect to be able to commit repeated trade violations and yet have its offenses overlooked?
Finally, as aggressive a proponent as I am of IP, I'm already sick of hearing about the "IP axis of evil." I don't think it was "clever." I think it trivializes the true importance of the real Axis of Evil. Pretty soon we'll be talking about the Yankee's axis of evil (Rodriguez, Jeter, Giambi), the landscaping axis of evil, the freeway axis of evil, etc. One should not apply extremely serious phrases to less-important purposes. Otherwise, the original serious application of the phrase is trivialized. Here's hoping we've seen the last of the phrase "IP axis of evil." But I'll bet not.
A couple of comments. First, obviously, IP policy is only one of several factors to take into account in international relations. We're overlooking an awful lot with an awful lot of countries under the guise of helping us with the War on Terrorism--just as we did with our friends in the Cold War. But IP is extremely important to our economy. And just how much help do we expect to get from Brazil on other fronts, anyway?
Second, we're letting Brazil get away with having it both ways--claiming to be a poor, developing nation on the one hand and begging for bargain basement prices on drugs, a pass on copyright piracy, low interest development loans, etc. But all the while, Brazil is selling Embraer jets to U.S. companies like American Airlines (of which I am a proud customer).
Is an economy that can turn out world class jet airliners still an economy that should expect to be able to commit repeated trade violations and yet have its offenses overlooked?
Update: Should a country that thinks it's worthy of a seat on the UN Security Council expect to still be able to enlist the sympathy of the world by claiming to be a "developing nation?"
Finally, as aggressive a proponent as I am of IP, I'm already sick of hearing about the "IP axis of evil." I don't think it was "clever." I think it trivializes the true importance of the real Axis of Evil. Pretty soon we'll be talking about the Yankee's axis of evil (Rodriguez, Jeter, Giambi), the landscaping axis of evil, the freeway axis of evil, etc. One should not apply extremely serious phrases to less-important purposes. Otherwise, the original serious application of the phrase is trivialized. Here's hoping we've seen the last of the phrase "IP axis of evil." But I'll bet not.