Yesterday President Obama announced Michael Froman as his new US Trade Representative. Froman will be tasked with protecting US trade interests around the globe and informing other countries on how to improve their copyright enforcement initiatives. "He does not rest until he's delivered the best possible deal for American businesses and American workers. He's fought to make sure that countries that break the rules are held accountable," the President said in his speech.

However, the US itself hasn't been playing by the rules either. In fact, one of the issues the new Trade Representative will have to deal with is the lingering dispute with Antigua and Barbuda. The US refuses to lift a trade "blockade" preventing the Caribbean island from offering Internet gambling services, despite several WTO decisions in Antigua's favor.

Earlier this year the WTO had granted Antigua the right to suspend US copyrights and launch a "piracy site." The money generated by such a site would compensate the country for some of the losses suffered due to US actions. Since the initial announcement a lot of progress has been made behind the scenes and a source close to the Government of Antigua informed us this week that they will soon start accepting bids for the new media platform.

One of the potential partners that has been suggested is none other than The Pirate Bay. The world's largest file-sharing site has plenty of experience with online media distribution and its owners are unlikely to succumb to the inevitable pressure from the US Government.

Antigua's attorney Mark Mendel confirmed that the Government is likely to soon start a process to solicit bids to operate whatever platform the Government determines to put in place. However, he didn't want to speculate on any of the parties that could collaborate.

Mendel did emphasize that whatever Antigua ultimately choose to do, it will respect the copyrights of non-US owners. "Whichever vendor is selected in the process, be it The Pirate Bay or any other company, it would be involved in a dialogue with the Government and a partnership that will be strictly supervides to make sure that the operation is conducted in accordance with the WTO rulings," Mendel says.

The above means that The Pirate Bay would have to develop a separate service for Antigua. This service could be advertising supported, levy a charge per download, or operate on a subscription base. The advertising model would be an interesting option as that revenue would not be bound to the $21 million cap defined by the WTO.

A Pirate Bay insider informed us that they are considering their participation and are looking forward to working out the details for an eventual bid. "The Pirate Bay would definitely love help out," TorrentFreak was told. Thus far official negotiations haven't been initiated, but the unusual collaboration could prove to be an interesting one for both sides.

Antigua of course knows very well that having The Pirate Bay on board will raise the visibility of the project. The Pirate Bay on the other hand never likes to waste an opportunity to mock the US copyright monopolies. "I think this would be a great opportunity to finally launch The Freedom Bay," The Pirate Bay says.