In an effort to get back at the US for its interference with the small country's internet gambling operations, Antigua is threatening to make US movie and music piracy legal, unless its grievances are "properly addressed and losses compensated for."
In 2003, Antigua initially claimed that the US "unlawfully prevented its online gambling operators from accessing American markets although ... [ read the full article ]
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Unfortunately for Antigua the US Government passed laws that FORBID credit card companies from paying ANY gambling debts. Now I am sure it won't take a rocket scientist to figure out how to get around that. What really infuriates me is that we have gambling in every state of the Union. Lotteries or Casinos are all controlled by the state, but have a little friendly game somewhere they don't condone and bam, your busted. Hypocrites is what out Government is made of, hypocrites!
In an effort to get back at the US for its interference with the small country's internet gambling operations, Antigua is threatening to make US movie and music piracy legal, unless its grievances are "properly addressed and losses compensated for."
In 2003, Antigua initially claimed that the US "unlawfully prevented its online gambling operators from accessing American markets although the US allowed domestic online bets for sporting events like horse racing." At the time the country claimed $3.4 billion USD in losses and made a case with the World Trade Organization. It won the case but was only awarded $21 million USD.
"Out of retaliation, Antigua is now threatening to allow (make legal)"virtually everything from pharmaceuticals to music, anything with IP protection that can be duplicated," added Mark E. Mendel, who represents Antigua in the affair.
"It is not our preferred option to punish the MPAA or others for the U.S. government's intransigence, but the U.S. has refused to negotiate fairly," he said.
"It is not our preferred option to punish the MPAA or others for the U.S. government's intransigence, but the U.S. has refused to negotiate fairly," he said.
Mendel added that Antigua has been trying to work out a deal that would allow online gambling between the nations but that the US is being unreasonable and "using every possible appeal, counterattack and side attack it could think of. We've been through five separate full-blown WTO proceedings on this and have won every step of the way."
In December 2007, the WTO ruled that "Antigua could exact damages by ignoring IP agreements with the U.S. should a negotiated settlement fail." The US has yet to respond to the dispute.
We will certainly keep you updated on any developments.
