Antigua Wins A Right to
Piracy; WTO Rules $21mln In Sanctions Against U.S
From: AHN
The United
States faces $21 million (10.6 pounds) in yearly trade
sanctions after the World Trade Organization ruled in favor
of Antigua and Barbuda.
The two nations
were seeking compensation from the U.S. for banning online
gaming in the country. However, the compensation is far less
than the expected $3.4 billion in retaliatory measures
against the U.S. commercial services and intellectual
property.
Washington was
prepared to compensate $500,000 in damages caused to the
online gambling operators. The U.S. has banned foreign
online gaming and gambling firms by passing a law in October
2006, which the WTO considers illegal by wrongly blocking
online gambling operators from the American market.
Contrarily,
online wagering on horse racing is still legal in the
country. The United States welcomed the ruling by the WTO
and it ended a legal battle lasting nearly five years.
According to The
Associated Press report, the office of the U.S. Trade
Representative noted in a statement, "Antigua's claim was
patently excessive. The United States is pleased that the
figure arrived at by the arbitrator is over 100 times lower
than Antigua's claim."
The U.S. had
already compromised with the European nations, who had
seeked similar sanctions against the country. Europe
received better deals in trade agreements from the United
States in return.
Meanwhile, the
ruling was a major setback for Antigua as the compensation
was less.
"This was a ploy
to get foreign people out of the US, and they will have
their own massive monopoly. If they can get rid of all
foreign competition, they will be happy," Mark Mendel,
Antigua's lawyer, told FT while reacting to the ruling.
Additionally,
the ruling provided the Caribbean nation of Antigua to
violate intellectual property rights of the U.S. by
distributing copies of American CD or DVDs including music,
movie and software products.
"The ruling
could establish a harmful precedent for a WTO member to
affirmatively authorize what would otherwise be considered
acts of piracy, counterfeiting or other forms of ...
infringement," the U.S. said, according to AP.
The WTO ruling
could lead to further complicate the trade relations between
the U.S. and Antigua as none of the participating countries
can appeal Friday's decision.
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