Antigua continues to make its case in the World Trade Organization that the U.S. is simply ignoring WTO opinions that it is illegally blocking Antigua-based online gambling sites from accepting U.S. players.
But Antiguan officials have still not said they will use an approved counter sanction from the WTO—namely the right to stop protecting U.S. copyrights.
Antigua and Barbuda again charged the United States with failing to change its law or pay up in a World Trade Organization case it lost for blocking the island nation’s online gambling business.
Antigua has the right to not protect $21 million per year in U.S. copyrights for each year the US blocks its gambling services under a previous decision from the WTO. But speaking at the WTO Dispute Settlement Body, officials did not say they would use the cross retaliation remedy.
In its statement, Antigua complained that the U.S. has indicated that its compliance with the decision is optional, and has failed to make any payment to Antigua despite previous WTO rulings that the U.S. is costing the countries about $21 million a year through actions that make online gambling illegal through international sites in the U.S.
“The facile excuses presented in the past are completely without merit, and the United States as well as every other member of this body knows it,” Antigua’s statement said. “We understand that this is all orchestrated to frustrate us to cause us to tire and slink away into oblivion.”
