The ruling won't come out on Friday as earlier expected, the U.S. trade official said.
The U.S. government said Antigua is entitled to only $500,000 in damages in the dispute, but Antigua believes the damages should be $3.4 billion.
"We understand the report has been delayed," said Gretchen Hamel, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office.
The small Caribbean nation has been in a long-running fight to offer its Internet gambling services in the United States. The case is being closely watched by European Internet gambling companies, which were pushed out of the U.S. market by Congress last year.
Two years ago, this seemed like a sure victory for Antigua. The WTO ruled that a U.S. law allowing only domestic companies to provide online horse-race gambling services "discriminated" against foreign firms.
Antigua has built a thriving online gambling industry to replace declining tourism funds.
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The government there wants the WTO's authorization to suspend copyright protections on American movies, music, and software so its domestic manufacturers can export those products to the U.S. and potentially other markets. Antigua believes it will prevail.
"We feel pretty confident about our case, to be honest. We really feel like we have the upper hand here," Mark Mendel, a private attorney representing Antigua, said. In an April, 2005, ruling, the WTO found a U.S. law allowing only domestic companies to provide online horse-race gambling services discriminated against foreign companies.
According to the Antigua Online Gaming Association, the case has become more and more complicated as time passes. The case took "a stunning turn of events" earlier this year, after suffering defeat after defeat, and with one appeal remaining, the U.S. announced it is withdrawing its commitments in the gaming sector from its GATS schedule. The tactic by the U.S. was seen as "unprecedented" by the gaming association. Antigua and Barbuda, one of the smallest members of the WTO, had challenged the U.S. protectionist trade policy against remote wagering over the Internet.
Just when the U.S. was faced with having to comply with the ruling, the U.S. is trying to walk away from the process, the gaming association said. Some experts believe this case has international trade implications and could lead to the break up of the WTO. What is the point of having an international trading system, that is supposed to help grow the Internet, enforced by a neutral court in Geneva when a developing member like Antigua successfully challenges the largest trading member in the world, and the large trading member simply quits after a losing the verdict in one case, the experts ask?
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