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Lowdown on the WTO Online Casinos Ruling

So with all of the talks about the World Trade Organisation’s decision to grant Antigua rights to disregard U.S. copyrights, some in the online casinos industry and are probably wondering what exactly possessed the WTO to come to that conclusion, and what does that mean for the U.S. Basically, Antigua was granted the right (the nation requested it in fact) from the WTO to take $21 million worth of compensation from the U.S. in the form of U.S. copyrights. Antigua’s online casinos industry was destroyed by the U.S. gambling ban, and U.S. legislation that makes it illegal for offshore betting and gambling companies to participate in online state horserace betting. For that reason Antigua has sought U.S. compensation for several years now to supplement the devastating effect that the online casino ban had on the small island nation’s economy.

The WTO panel finally concluded the case; and in a ruling that only takes into consideration the money that Antigua loses because of the discriminatory online state betting, the panel granted Antigua $21 million in compensation. As mentioned, Antigua requested the right to disregard U.S. copyrights as a way to take that compensation back from the U.S.

Now that the ruling is firmly in place, the U.S. has requested that Antigua not use the retaliatory measures that the WTO granted until the U.S. has some new policies and changes to trade agreements firmly in place. But many in the online casinos industry speculate that Antigua will be reluctant to wait.

Once Antigua begins the retaliatory online casino measures, most speculate that the U.S. could encounter serious problems in the music and movies industries. As for the WTO ruling, an article in the New York Times opined that "the ruling is significant in that it grants a rare form of compensation: the right of one country, in this case Antigua, to violate intellectual property laws of another -- the United States -- by allowing it to distribute copies of American music, movie and software products."