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Ruling In Online Case Due Friday
According to Reuters, the attorney representing Antigua in its online trade case against the United States has stated that he expects to prevail as the tiny island nation seeks substantial damages following years of litigation.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is set to rule on Antigua's damages request tomorrow and Mark Mendel told the news agency that he is anticipating triumph. The Texas-based attorney said that the compensation claim could be worth up to $3.4 billion a year in cross-retaliation moves as a response to US actions against the Antiguans over online gambling.
In 2005, the WTO ruled that a US law allowing only domestic companies to provide online horse-race gambling services discriminated against foreign companies. However, the United States countered with claims that Antigua is entitled to only $500,000 in compensation.
“The $3.4 billion is just what we're entitled to by virtue of them not having complied with the decision,' said Mendel.
Antigua built an online gambling industry to replace declining tourist revenues before 2005’s legislation and claims damages to its economy by the online gambling ban call for significant compensation.
'I think we provided plenty of proof to justify our figure,” said Mendel.
“We feel pretty confident it should be a high number. I think there's no doubt that we're going to get the ability to cross-retaliate.'
Cross-retaliation refers to Antigua being allowed to suspend copyright protections on American movies, music and software so that its domestic manufacturers can export those products to the United States and other markets.
source: OnlineCasinoNews |
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