WTO Steps Back
Some in the online casinos and gambling industry are looking to the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) as the leading organization to mediate the compensation
negotiations between the United States and several prominent nations. And though
the WTO has been involved throughout the beginning of the conflict, the WTO
seems to be washing its hands of the whole online casinos gambling related
situation.
In fact, the WTO has just wrapped up the Antigua versus the U.S. case that has
lasted for years. The WTO panel came to a controversial decision to allow
Antigua the right to ignore U.S. copyrights up to $21 million a year because the
U.S. unfairly discriminates in its domestic online casinos industry.
Now that the Antigua issue is resolved, and the countries that qualify for
compensation claims from the U.S. are decided, the WTO is stepping out of the
situation – at least for the foreseeable future. The WTO is leaving the disputes
and negotiations in the hands of the online casinos countries affected.
And though the WTO is no longer in the midst of the nitty gritty details of the
online casinos related dispute, the organization is still involved to the point
that it will enforce the negotiated decision that all countries agree is
acceptable. Basically, the nations involved in the compensation negotiations are
on their own as far as the negotiations are concerned, but the WTO is not so far
out of the situation that the U.S. can ignore it’s commitments.
|