Antiqua ratcheting up the pressure against the US

The small country of Antigua, largely to know to the online poker community due to their frequent disputes with United States in front of the World Trade Organization, is continuing to apply legal pressure against the United States in an attempt to force the US to open their doors to online gaming companies from Antigua.

In its latest strategy, the small Caribbean nation has asked the WTO to allow it to violate US intellectual property laws as compensation for US laws which disallow online gaming companies from operating in the US (despite a recent WTO decision that mandated access for such companies). If the WTO grants the request, Antigua would, in theory, be legally allowed to manufacture and distribute copies of products such as movies and CDs published by US companies.

In the New York Times, which ran a story today on this issue, Mark Mendel, the lawyer representing Antigua in front of the WTO, summarized the principle at stake: “This is the world’s biggest consumer and exporter of gambling services trying to prohibit a small country from developing its economy by offering these same services. And we find that deeply hypocritical.”

The US has exhausted all appeals available to it via the WTO - at this point the matter at hand is determining the compensation that Antigua should receive for the unfair trade practices of the US regarding online wagering. The dispute places the WTO in the unenviable position of having to choose between its global credibility and a potential backlash from one of its largest members.