Advocate for broadcasting rights Enrico Woolford has challenged Home Box Office Latin America (HBO LA) to further explain why it has chosen to hold government and a local reseller accountable for an issue it should be able to settle in the US courts.
This is in the wake of HBO LA’s application to have Guyana remain on the US Trade Representative’s watch list of countries which deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) or deny fair and equitable market access to US persons who rely on intellectual property protection.
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 argued that it faces significant difficulties while operating in the Caribbean since piracy of exclusive content is not subject to effective enforcement in violation of its international property rights and international legal obligations publicized by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), World Intellectual Property Organization and regional trade agreements.
It specifically identified Gizmos and Gadgets as a resellers of integrated hardware and service solutions for internet piracy. It 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 and further claimed that Guyana’s failure to address these violations is also justification to deny the country benefits under the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) or the General System of Preferences (GPS).
Woolford in a telephone interview with Sunday Stabroek recalled that he has long stated that the day would come when Guyanese would be asked to pay to watch US content. He reminded that more than 20 years ago he was one of several who went to the local courts seeking a declaratory order that Guyanese should only be able to access programing for which Guyanese people have transmission rights. This case, brought against local television stations in relation to the transmission of National Football League (NFL) content, was settled out of court thus no order was granted.
“That day is now here when Guyanese are being asked to pay,” he said stressing that carriers and person displaying content must acknowledge those with rights to the product they are conveying or displaying.
However, he challenged HBO LA’s assertions as to where responsibility lies.
“There are intellectual property rights issues that need to be settled yes but there is only one company with the right to bring in voice and data [which it argues includes internet] to Guyana and that company is the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) owned by the American company Atlantic Tele-Network,” Woolford said.
He questioned why the HBO LA in its submission has chosen to highlight the seller of a device rather than the channel through which the content is transmitted and why the authority within Guyana, if one exists, empowered to execute the trademark has not claimed infringement.
“If it is that the device [ROKU TV preinstalled] cannot function without the internet why is HBO LA seeking to deal with the seller? Why are they not saying to GTT we are aware that your company is transmitting our content; we are aware that that content has a device at the end of it connecting under your system, using your bandwidth and streaming TV live?” Woolford asked,
He further explained that if companies are bypassing GTT then it raises another issue, before stating that the company would have to provide more information about its case for a determination to be made.
This newspaper reached out to HBO LA through their legal representatives Hughes Hubbard and Reed Limited Liability Partnership but up to press time had received no response.
