Copyright haven: Caribbean islands get approval to engage in what US calls 'authorized piracy'

LONDON – The Americans call it piracy. The Antiguans call it justice.

The islands of Antigua and Barbuda are threatening to strip intellectual property protections from American goods in retaliation for a U.S. embargo on the tiny Caribbean nation's online gambling industry.

U.S. officials say that the proposed copyright haven — whose broad outlines were approved Monday at the World Trade Organization in Geneva — amounts to "government-authorized piracy."

But Antiguans, who've won a series of legal victories against the U.S. at the international trade body, say they're within their rights so long as Washington maintains its online gambling block.

What such a haven might look like is unclear. There's little in the way of precedent for Antigua's move, and the islands still hope for a negotiated settlement to the dispute.