NY Sun: Antigua and US intellectual property rights
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The New York Sun ran an article today touching on the various factors involved in the recent WTO Antigua decision.
“The United States is concerned … that the arbitrator agreed with Antigua’s request to suspend WTO concessions not just with respect to services, but also with respect to intellectual property rights,” Mr. Spicer [a spokesperson for U.S. trade representative Susan Schwab] said.
“The United States is pleased that the figure arrived at by the arbitrator is over 100 times lower than Antigua’s claim,” he said.
Because America had come to a compensation agreement with three of the countries involved in the dispute and was working toward agreement with the others, Mr. Spicer said he did not expect Antigua to proceed with its waiving of American held copyrights. “Once the process of clarifying the U.S. schedule of commitments is complete, any issues in our bilateral dispute with Antigua will be moot, and there will no longer be any basis for suspending WTO commitments in accordance with the Arbitrator’s award,” he said.
Full article here.
