The country that legalized piracy

Legalize, regulate, create economic activity, tax the profits, reduce the black market and associated violent crime.

What if some country in Latin America or the Caribbean decided to legalize, not drugs, but the piracy of intellectual property. The government would allow for the legal stealing and creation of copies of music, movies, books, art, software, pharmaceuticals and patented inventions. It would create an entire industry on selling the IP online and manufacturing and shipping counterfeit items abroad.

Some may argue that this already exists in some countries (ahem, China). But that's a case of the government refusing to enforce regulations or lying about the issue. I'm talking about a country deciding that its official policy is that intellectual property rights don't exist there. They make the economic decision that they will earn more economic gains from the legalized piracy than they will lose in facing international sanctions from the rest of the world.

In fact, the government goes so far as to promote the industry, providing R&D funding to companies that set up shop and serving as a sort of pirate tourism or haven for foreigners. They could refuse to extradite criminals of intellectual property law and grant them all asylum.

It would almost certainly lead to a massive global trade battle. The country would face unprecedented trade sanctions. Its ships would be blocked from ports. Borders would get extra protection. New internet laws would be created to block that country's websites (and the country would find new ways to get around those blocks). Private companies would need to double down to separate real from counterfeit goods.


This could be a huge economic boom for some country that currently ranks low on the economic development scale. Would any country actually take the risk and consider the policy?