Michael Geist has a great column on the BBC today about the way that the US copyright lobby is increasingly out of touch with global copyright norms. The US is a net exporter of copyrighted works. When it asks other countries to "fight piracy," it's another way of asking them to "protect American exports."
Countries around the world, particularly those in the developing world (including Indonesia, the Philippines, Lebanon, Kuwait, Nigeria, and Vietnam) all face demands to eliminate compulsory licensing schemes in the publishing and broadcasting fields.
Moreover, the report even criticises those countries that have merely raised the possibility of new compulsory licensing systems, such as Sweden, where politicians have mused about an Internet file sharing license.
Left unsaid by the IIPA, is the fact that the US is home to numerous compulsory licenses.
