Antigua & Barbuda moves to take copyrighted material over online gaming dispute with US

Antigua & Barbuda prepared to make ‘final offer’ to America

A dispute over online gaming between Antigua & Barbuda and the United States has new life after the twin-island nation last month rejected another settlement offer from the US.

According to a report from the Antigua Observer, the country is currently considering a counter-offer.
The counter-offer reportedly will be a final one in the decade-long dispute. Back in 2003, the US government decided it did not want Americans to have access to online casinos based on the twin-island nation. The move cost Antigua & Barbuda companies around US$21 million a year in revenue. The country claimed that online gambling generated US$3 billion annually in economic output.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) eventually stepped in 4 years later, ruling that the US could not restrict access to the sites. The US did not comply – which resulted in the WTO ruling which said that Antigua & Barbuda could violate US digital copyrights in order to recoup the money.

Antigua & Barbuda never implemented the WTO ruling and the countries have been in drawn-out negotiations ever since. The report said that if the final offer to the US is not accepted, Antigua & Barbuda will implement the sanctions.

It is reportedly tired of diplomacy.
“We will never accept any one-sided agreement in which they treat us with contempt, and in which they fail to settle the issue in [a] meaningful manner. We are hoping that as a result of that proposal we will be able to come to a mutually satisfactory agreement,” Prime Minister Gaston Browne reported said Thursday.

Because of the length of the dispute, Antigua & Barbuda reportedly want “as close as possible” to US$200 million in a deal, which is roughly the amount of revenue that was lost. It is not clear how far short the latest US offer was to that amount.