Bad for Ukraine...Good for Me!
The Action Ukraine Report in my inbox this morning was just chock full of articles regarding the Ukrainian Parliament's inability to pass intellectual property laws in line with WTO norms.
I'd provide links, but these were all in an email. Go to the link above and subscribe to the newsletter. It's worth it. Instead I will just liberally quote from the articles below. Anything I didn't write will be in italics. No plagarism at Blog de Connard.
Anyway, because there are still loopholes big-enough to drive a truck through in the anti-piracy laws here, Ukraine will have to suffer the following consequences:
1) The US imposed USD 75 million worth of sanctions on Ukrainian imports on January 23, 2002. These sanctions will now not be removed.
2) Ukraine needs to sign a bi-lateral trade agreement with the US as part of
the agreements needed for accession to the WTO. The U.S. will not agree
to sign such a bi-lateral trade agreement until the intellectual property
rights amendments are passed
3) Remember when Yushenko came to Washington and Congress applauded when he asked them to lift Jackson-Vanik restrictions for Ukraine? Well, since the Rada decided that they really need their bootleg copies of Miss Congenialty 2, Jackson-Vanik Restrictions on Ukraine will not be Removed in 2005. Officials in Washington last week indicated the Jackson-Vanik issue for Ukraine was not on the Senate Committee's agenda for the rest of 2005. There were also indications it was highly unlikely the issue would be brought before the Committee until Ukraine passes the intellectual property rights amendments.
Hey, at least the country has their priorities in order. In the meantime, I need to head over to Petrovka. Hopefully they'll have in copies of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
I'd provide links, but these were all in an email. Go to the link above and subscribe to the newsletter. It's worth it. Instead I will just liberally quote from the articles below. Anything I didn't write will be in italics. No plagarism at Blog de Connard.
Anyway, because there are still loopholes big-enough to drive a truck through in the anti-piracy laws here, Ukraine will have to suffer the following consequences:
1) The US imposed USD 75 million worth of sanctions on Ukrainian imports on January 23, 2002. These sanctions will now not be removed.
2) Ukraine needs to sign a bi-lateral trade agreement with the US as part of
the agreements needed for accession to the WTO. The U.S. will not agree
to sign such a bi-lateral trade agreement until the intellectual property
rights amendments are passed
3) Remember when Yushenko came to Washington and Congress applauded when he asked them to lift Jackson-Vanik restrictions for Ukraine? Well, since the Rada decided that they really need their bootleg copies of Miss Congenialty 2, Jackson-Vanik Restrictions on Ukraine will not be Removed in 2005. Officials in Washington last week indicated the Jackson-Vanik issue for Ukraine was not on the Senate Committee's agenda for the rest of 2005. There were also indications it was highly unlikely the issue would be brought before the Committee until Ukraine passes the intellectual property rights amendments.
Hey, at least the country has their priorities in order. In the meantime, I need to head over to Petrovka. Hopefully they'll have in copies of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
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