Zookz Offers Quasi-Legal Unlimited Mp3 Downloads

A legal battle between Antigua and the US via the World Trade Organization may have a very surprising side effect: a digital store offering unlimited music or movie downloads for $10 a month or both for $18. The prices seem shockingly low but there's a perfectly good, although vaguely legal, explanation as Zookz, as the new service will be called, will pay no royalty, or any kind of fee at all, to the copyright holders. The company, however, believes it's in the clear based on a decision of the WTO.

It all goes back almost ten years ago when US regulators banned an online casino based in Antigua from being used by US citizens and took one of the owners of the casino, also an American, to court, as Techdirt reports. Antigua protested against the ban and complained to the WTO that this would be a violation of free trade agreements. The WTO actually sided with Antigua and ruled that the move was indeed a violation of the agreement between the two countries as the US allowed some types of gambling to exist.

Antigua and Barbuda is an island nation with a population of 82,000 and a GDP of $1.546 billion in 2008, so the US decided it could pretty much ignore it, seeing as they are the greatest country in the world after all. In 2004 the WTO once again ruled for Antigua but this time the US didn't ignore the decision but rather went on to actually claim that the WTO ruling was in their favor.

Seeing that the US had no intention of doing anything Antigua asked the WTO for permission to ignore US intellectual property to which the organization agreed but only to a maximum of $21 million yearly. So now a local entrepreneur has set up Zookz to take advantage of this, offering unlimited downloads for a fixed sum. The site currently offers 50,000 mp3s and 1,500 movies so its catalogue isn't exactly vast but it is adding 10,000 more mp3s and 300 movies a week, though at this rate it's going to take a while to catch up with iTunes or Amazon's store. Still, it could prove popular and has some content no other digital store boasts, like The Beatles.

The company believes this is in tune with the WTO ruling though it is clearly stretching it in its favor. To further complicate things the site offers music or movies from non-US artists, which it clearly isn't allowed to do. As for the $21 million limit, after Zookz reaches it the site will begin offering the content for free. While it is clearly taking some liberties with the WTO ruling, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.