Two years ago, we noted that Brazil had asked the WTO for permission to ignore certain US patents and copyrights as a retaliation against the US’s refusal to abide by a WTO ruling. This is, of course, typical of the US. When the WTO sides with the US on certain issues, you see the US and industry lobbyists go nuts about how those countries need to capitulate due to “international obligations.” But when the WTO rules against the US, the USTR has a long history of ignoring the ruling or even pretending (falsely) that it “won.” Given that most countries can’t do much if the US just ignores the WTO, there’s been a new push to allow countries to ignore US copyrights and patents up to a certain dollar amount. In Antigua, for example, the WTO said it could ignore up to $21 million worth of US IP.
Brazil is now moving forward with a plan to actually ignore US patents and copyrights. It’s putting forth a retaliation plan to the WTO that includes various tariffs and other sanctions — but most interestingly, a plan to ignore $238 million annually in US copyrights and patents — expected to cover both pharmaceutical patents and entertainment copyrights. As is typical in such situations, the USTR is wagging its finger and warning, “don’t do that,” but doesn’t seem willing to admit that the WTO already ruled against the US.
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