Recently U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab made some news when she explained that Russia's ascension to the World Trade Organization was being hindered by its apparent support of a web site that sells unauthorized digital music. From Reuters:

"I have a hard time imagining Russia becoming a member of the WTO and having a Web site like that up and running that is so clearly a violation of everyone's intellectual property rights," U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab told reporters after a speech to a services industry organization.

Schwab's call for the allofmp3.com Web site to be closed came as the United States and Russia are trying once again to reach a deal on Moscow's 13-year-old bid to join the WTO.

Good for her. The site is operating without the authorization of copyright holders. It is clearly in violation of existing treaties, and any country that harbors such an operation is showing a lack of respect for the rule of law and has no place in the WTO. Now clearly there are other reasons why Russia is not yet in the WTO, and those issues include agriculture and other trade-related issues. Not trade-related, but relevant in my mind in pointing to the lawless nature of modern Russia, is that it seems to be popular sport there to assassinate reporters.

Speaking of reporters, the pirate site in question will try to convince some in an online press conference tomorrow morning that far from obstructing any trade negotiations, their company is in fact making the world a better place. The site's officials have bragged that the controversy is drawing attention -- and customers -- to the site, and they have conducted an aggressive PR campaign of late here in the U.S. Behind that effort is Qorvis Communications, a PR shop best known for making Saudi Arabia's government of male oil sheiks look good. It is also behind a "grassroots" effort promoting net neutrality regulations, although it's extremely difficult to know that by just looking at their web site.

If Qorvis is willing to take this pirate site's money and promote it in the US, that's their choice. But if I were still a reporter and were logging in to that press conference, the first thing I'd want to ask is: "How much of your site's revenues are given to the artists who perform the music and the songwriters who write it?" Of course, I think I already know the answer to that one.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 4:48 PM | Enforcement & Remedies, International

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