• Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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    13 hours ago

    This seems to be referencing Regulation (EU) 654/2014, an EU law which allows the EU to unilaterally enact countermeasures against countries that break the WTO’s rules.

    The countermeasures listed in article 5 are:

    • Imposing tarriffs and customs duties
    • Trade restrictions/quotas
    • Cancelling contracts between the EU and the target country
    • Cancelling the target country’s intellectual property rights (e.g. patents/copyrights)
    • Banning public procurement from the target country
    • Implementing price penalties for public procurement from the target country

    The law was amended in Regulation (EU) 2021/167 in response to the Trump (and now Biden) administrations blocking the appointment of judges to the WTO and using a loophole to kill the WTO’s enforcement mechanism.

    More context from the EU parliament:
    https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/652021/EPRS_BRI(2020)652021_EN.pdf

    The fact that the EU can just suspend American patents and copyrights is pretty insane. Could be some huge benefits for European companies and movie pirates.

      • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
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        9 hours ago

        If EU did that, it would probably result in equal retaliation. It would mean that all patents and IP would become local. Stealing these things from others continents would become fair game, which would make patents and IP almost completely pointless.

        Could we please try that out? Sounds like an interesting scenario.

        • JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          Parents and IP would become local

          You’re telling me we could have more diverse innovation that catered to the needs of individuals if we allowed people to create tools that help them and their neighbors instead of saying “some guy decided a hundred years ago, on the other side of the planet, that this is what this tool looked like. If you call something else by this name we’ll sue you and if you call something that looks like this something else we’ll sue you for that too”?

    • KnoLord@lemmy.zip
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      14 hours ago

      Thanks for context!

      I hope that as soon as the US will act more iffy, these countermeasures will kick in, as even the US should know then that they aren’t all mighty.

      I don’t know if you have more info, but are these measures reversible or absolute?

      • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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        13 hours ago

        The regulation text says that the measures are enacted by the European Commission putting out an implementing act. Article 7 says that they may repeal the implementation if the third country resolves the conflict. So it seems that they can only remove the measures if the third country gives up.

    • atro_city@fedia.io
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      13 hours ago

      The EU would need to have the balls first. USAian propaganda has seeped into this continent for so long that it has affected the populace deeply. If the EU did something to threaten iPhone, WhatsApp, or Starbucks availability in the EU, that would be cause for an uprising.

      • Brainsploosh@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Lol, did you notice you can opt out of tracking cookies on Meta, or that iPhones have USB-C connectors?

        EU regulations got some pull. And also give a fair few fines.

          • Brainsploosh@lemmy.world
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            12 hours ago

            Agreed, and as EU has a history of enforcing regulations, even against the “untouchables” you mentioned, I have expectations that they will again.

      • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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        13 hours ago

        Signal is simply just better than whatsapp, and I don’t think starbucks would be affected. I guess Apple could OTA brick iphones though, true.

        • scutiger@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Imagine if you could open up your own Starbucks anywhere in the EU, including using logos etc. without having to deal with franchising from an American company.

          • barsoap@lemm.ee
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            3 hours ago

            Why would you want to advertise that you have worse coffee than everyone else.

            • scutiger@lemmy.world
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              3 hours ago

              I don’t drink coffee, so I can’t speak for its quality, but my understanding is that Starbucks is pretty popular.

        • DdCno1@beehaw.org
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          12 hours ago

          Signal has better privacy and that’s why I’m using it, but that’s where the advantages end. It’s far less reliable. Most people are using WhatsApp.