Home Box Office Latin America (HBO LA) an affiliate of HBO, a leading premium pay television network in the United States has accused local company Gizmos and Gadgets of infringing its intellectually property rights.
In a February 9, 2017 letter to the Director for Innovation and Intellectual Property in the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), HBO LA identified Guyana as a country which denies adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights, or fair and equitable market access to US persons reliant upon intellectual property protection.
The company argued that it faces significant difficulties while operating in the Caribbean since piracy of exclusive content was not subject to effective enforcement in violation of its international property rights and international legal obligations publicized by the WTO, WIPO, and regional trade agreements.
Gizmos and Gadgets is specifically identified as a resellers of integrated hardware and service solutions for internet piracy. Ravi Mangar, owner of Gizmos and Gadgets, was contacted for a response and though he provided a comment, he later retracted the statement.
The letter, which is a public comment on the 2017 Special 301 Review of Countries identified under Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 states that Gizmos and Gadgets Electronics store, advertises over 500 channels of content using ROKU devices with the unlicensed streaming service marketed as ROKU TV preinstalled.
“It is our understanding that the store collects payment on a monthly basis from an estimated 5,000 subscribers of the ROKU TV preinstalled service, each at an estimated profit of $30 per month. If the foregoing statements are true, this represents an annual profit of $1.8 million US dollars and the provider of the service would be considered the second largest television provider in Georgetown. Additionally, Gizmos and Gadgets Electronics has recently started offering a second integrated hardware and service device known as the Gizmo TV BOX, which offers over 200 channels with no monthly fee,” it explained.
HBO argued that the “piracy” conducted by Gizmos and Gadgets violates Guyana’s obligations under the WTO Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement and the Berne Convention. It further stated that Guyana’s failure to address these violations is also justification to deny the country its Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) or the General System of Preferences (GPS) benefits.
In the letter HBO LA asks USTR to continue to advocate in the region.
“Where governments fail to enforce their own laws, we request that USTR re-emphasize the importance of effective IP enforcement to our trading partners. Where governments do not have the appropriate laws in place to prevent and punish signal piracy or piracy of exclusively licensed content, we request that USTR re-emphasize the importance of passing and implementing such laws, and use the threat of formal dispute settlement and/or the denial of trade preferences where appropriate,” the letter stated.
Guyanese legislators have for many years been discussing the drafting and passage of copyright laws. However, this is still to materialize.
