www.rollcall.com/issues/53_56/vested/20875-1.html
Tiny Antigua Roils U.S. IP
November 7, 2007
By Kate Ackley,
Roll Call Staff
With a decision likely just weeks away in a multiyear Internet gambling dispute between the United States and the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, lobbyists who are keeping a close eye on the case are putting their cards on the table.
The international dispute, brought by Antigua at the World Trade Organization in 2003 over a U.S. ban on offshore gambling, could impact several industries — not just gaming.
That’s because Antigua, which has won its final appeals at the WTO, has moved on to the punishment phase and has asked for retaliation of a most unusual kind: the right to violate WTO rules on intellectual property. In technical jargon, Antigua is waiting for the WTO to say whether the country can suspend its obligations under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known as TRIPS. Antigua is calling for $3.4 billion in sanctions.
Groups like the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America, which represent sectors that rely heavily on intellectual property rights, are keeping a close watch on the case and making their voices heard on Capitol Hill and with the administration. Sources said in some cases the groups are leaning on the United States trade representative to settle the matter directly with Antigua before their copyrights could come into jeopardy.
Perhaps no lobbyists in town are watching it more closely than the team at Black Swan LLC, a new lobbying enterprise that represents the Antigua Online Gaming Association, a group that first encouraged its government to bring the case to the WTO and the industry that could profit the most from the case.....
....The Poker Players Alliance, which opposes a recently enacted online gambling ban, said it has used the Antigua case in its own lobbying arguments. “The remedy that Antigua is seeking is really troublesome,” said the group’s lobbyist, John Pappas. “It’s remarkable that the U.S. has let it get so far down the road.”
PPA supports a bill sponsored by House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, which would regulate Internet gambling, inasmuch as it allows for licensed and regulated Internet poker.
“We believe the Antigua case could be the driving force to passing a Barney Frank-style bill,” Pappas said. “Certainly we don’t want the U.S. to suffer any trade sanctions. If the [Frank] bill passed, they would remove their request for sanctions.” The Frank bill also has champions from the GOP side including Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).
Pappas said the Antigua case is part of the Poker Players Alliance’s “standard talking points” when meeting with Members. “It’s eye-opening for some Members. There are Republicans and Democrats alike who are pro-free-trade, who never realized that our stance on Internet gaming has gotten us into an international bind.”
Shore called the Frank bill “a tremendous first step” and added that the lobbyists are working with Frank’s and Paul’s staffs on the details. “We appreciate everything Chairman Frank and Congressman Paul have done to advance this issue,” he added.