Beyonce, Rihanna, Others to be Held Hostage by Online Gambling Trade Dispute
The tiny Caribbean island of Antigua is looking to be compensated by the US as part of its $3.4 billion World Trade Organization victory. The two nations have been immersed in a decade-long dispute over Internet gambling.
“We are tired of talking,” said Attorney General Justin Simon, who last month formed a committee to start working on a plan to collect the royalties, according to the Miami Herald.
Antigua has failed to collect on any of the $3.4 billion reward to date. As such, the Caribbean island nation was granted permission by the WTO to go after trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property rights. The government plans to collect up to $21 million annually in royalties retroactive to 2006, money that normally goes to American music and film distributors. This would result in the shortchanging of recording artists the likes of Beyonce and Rihanna. Movie and television studios would likely be affected adversely as well.
From the Miami Herald:
The request has ignited the ire of U.S. trade officials, who warn that Antigua’s proposal could damage its reputation, and film industry executives, who worry it could hurt future sales and open up a “Pandora’s box” to piracy in other countries.
“Antiguan officials understand that retaliation against U.S. intellectual property rights, such as copyrights, would not be constructive,” said Brian Quinn, a spokesman with the Office of the United States Trade Representative. “It would damage Antigua’s climate for investment and innovation, and would not promote settlement.”
A spokeswoman for the Motion Picture Association of America declined to comment, but pointed to concerns raised in a 2008 letter — a year after Antigua asked the WTO for the right to retaliate in order to collect on its estimated billions in gambling losses.
Calling the figure “grossly exaggerated,” the association said Antigua’s proposal would present “real economic harm.”
“The unfortunate reality is that the failure to offer or enforce adequate protection of intellectual property rights in Antigua could foster abuses in other countries,” Greg Frazier of the Motion Picture Association of America wrote.
Antigua has seen its revenues from gaming licenses decline in recent years due to the US Government’s prohibitive stance regarding real money online gambling, especially where sportsbooks are concerned. The Caribbean nation was once home to over two dozen Web gambling ventures including the now defunct World Sports Exchange.
That company was once prominently featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Three months ago, one of its founders – and apparently the only remaining principals – fatally shot himself in the head. World Sports Exchange shut down just days earlier.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
