Antigua May Legalize Piracy of US Movies, Music

Seeks compensation for the harm caused by interference with its internet gambling operations by the United States.

The tiny West Indies nation of Antigua is threatening to take a dispute with the United States to new heights unless it sees its grievances properly addressed and losses compensated for.

The case apparently dates back to 2003 when Antigua first 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. Antigua claimed $3.4 billion in losses and took its grievance to the WTO, which agreed, but awarded only $21 million in damages.

Using the WTO win as its motivation, Antigua is now threatening to escalate the conflict at the end of the month by allowing "virtually everything from pharmaceuticals to music, anything with IP protection that can be duplicated," said 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.

Mendel said Antigua has been trying to work out an agreement that would allow online gambling between the two countries, but instead the U.S. has responded by "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."

The most recent victory was in December, when the WTO ruled that Antigua could exact damages by ignoring IP agreements with the U.S. should a negotiated settlement fail.

Mendel said the U.S. promised then to respond to proposals for settling the dispute. "We have been waiting for three months already and there's been nothing," he said. "If the U.S. doesn't come in with something by the end of March, my suggestion to the Antiguan government will be to forge ahead and impose IP sanctions."

Many have argued all along that the US is hypocritical when it comes to gambling, the discussion oftentimes filled with inane religious or moral chatter by lawmakers who regularly place bets in workplace football pools or buy weekly state Lotto tickets.

I'm sure we won't see a big piracy party in Antigua at the end of the month, but its nice to see that at least one country is pointing out the hypocrisy of our small-minded ban on internet gambling.