SOURCE: Reuters

(Geneva, Switzerland) — Antigua and Barbuda won compensation from the United States on Friday in a long-running trade dispute about gambling, but the amount was far lower than the tiny Caribbean nation had been seeking.

A World Trade Organization (WTO) arbitration panel granted Antigua's request to levy trade sanctions on U.S. intellectual property, for instance by lifting copyright on films and music to sell it themselves, prompting concern from Washington.

The WTO panel said Antigua was entitled to compensation of $21 million a year from the United States for being shut out of the U.S. online gambling market.

The ruling is only partial consolation for the former British colony, which built up an Internet gambling industry to replace declining tourism revenues, only to find itself shut out of the world's biggest gambling market.

The award falls far short of what Antigua had demanded -- $3.44 billion in "cross-retaliation", allowing it to seek damages outside the original services sector. Washington had argued Antigua was entitled to only $500,000 in compensation.

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