Antigua and Barbuda to Monetize US IP Rights Suspension Awarded by WTO

By Min Wu

In January 2013, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body gave Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda the right to impose sanctions against the United States for blocking its online gambling services because the United States was found to be in violation of WTO rules and had failed to resolve the issue. As the small country has little to sanction without doing harm to itself, a suspension of U.S. intellectual property rights was permitted.

As reported by Intellectual Property Watch, a WTO Remedies Implementation Committee at Antigua and Barbuda held a meeting on October 23 with the goal of setting the plan for monetizing the suspended intellectual property rights. Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer described the implementation of the trade remedies as “an important international responsibility.”