- At January meeting Antigua is expected to present a plan to collect $21m annually from US
- Antigua’s plan is expected to include, “international rights to produce and sell US-copyrighted merchandise without having to reimburse US-based rights holders. “
- From a statement by the US: “Antigua has no justification for taking any retaliatory actions against the United States.”
- US warned that any attempt to violate US intellectual property will impede “foreign investment in the Antiguan economy, particularly in high-tech industries.”
- US still contends it “never intended [gambling and betting services] to be included” in WTO agreement.
United States trade officials have decried attempts by Antigua & Barbuda to collect on an annual $21 million World Trade Organization judgment in a recent statement to the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body, terming it “government-authorized piracy.”
The United States protest follows an announcement by Antigua that it would propose a plan for collecting an existing 2007 WTO judgment over the United States’ failure to honor its previous GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Service) commitment regarding international online gambling.
The GATS agreement dated to a late-'90s addition of previous agreements called the “Uruguay Round,” included online gambling. The industry, then in its infancy, was later claimed by the United States to have been included by mistake.
The US also raised ethical and moral protests in this trade skirmish which have lasted for the better part of a decade. However, those protests were soundly rejected by the WTO in multiple appeals and hearings.
Antigua was eventually awarded an annual $21 million judgment in abrogated intellectual property rights, giving it international rights to produce and sell US-copyrighted merchandise without having to reimburse US-based rights holders.
Antigua declined to immediately enact its WTO judgment, hoping instead to negotiate further with the US over online gambling. However, years of fruitless meetings have offered no results.
Antigua failed in a recent attempt to have the matter added to the WTO’s December 2012 slate of ongoing disputed matters, but has succeeded in reintroducing the matter to the WTO’s dispute-settlement slate for January 2013, to be held in the coming weeks.
At this meeting, Antiguan representatives are expected to present their plan for collecting the on the 2007 judgment, which triggered the immediate United States protest.
In its statement, the US reiterated that the “United States never intended [gambling and betting services] to be included in its schedule under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).”
The US also noted that it had already settled with a small handful of other countries which had piggy-backed onto the original Antiguan complaint, and that it was Antigua’s stubbornness in not accepting other US offers that kept the matter from being resolved.
According to the US statement, “Antigua has no justification for taking any retaliatory actions against the United States.”
The US protest continued with a veiled warning that Antiguan plans to continue pursuing the matter could have other economic repercussions. The statement concluded with the following:
“[I]f Antigua actually proceeds with a plan for its government to authorize the theft of intellectual property, it would only serve to hurt Antigua’s own interests. Government-authorized piracy would undermine chances for a settlement that would provide real benefits to Antigua. It also would serve as a major impediment to foreign investment in the Antiguan economy, particularly in high-tech industries.”