“Antigua and Barbuda last month won the right to retaliate against US intellectual property, including patents and copyrights, as part of their longstanding WTO dispute on internet gambling. However, the value of the penalties Antigua was awarded fell far short of what it had initially sought. The tiny Caribbean island nation had asked to impose $3.443 billion in annual retaliatory sanctions, after WTO dispute panels and the Appellate Body ruled that the US multilateral commitments to liberalise its “recreational services” sector prevented it from legally shutting its internet gambling market to operators based in Antigua. Washingtons attempt to justify the ban on the grounds of public morals was compromised by the fact that domestically-based companies there are currently permitted to provide online betting on horseracing. Instead, a WTO arbitrator awarded Antigua the right to impose annual sanctions worth only $21 million against US patents, copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property, as well as services companies….
Read more detail on Legal News Directory – Intellectual Property
