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Russian MP3 site under criminal investigation

23 February 2005 8:54 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 13 comments

A Russian MP3 site, allofmp3.com is under criminal investigation, accused of copyright abuse by selling digital audio tracks in the MP3 format to consumers for just pennies. The site appears to charge per MB of download, about 2 cents a MB. The group sells music from bands like the Beatles and others who have not authorised digital distribution yet. The Russian site claimed it had licenses to do so from a local clearing house, but record labels have maintained that the licenses weren't valid.

The Moscow City Police Computer Crimes division completed an investigation into allofmp3.com and recommended that the prosecutor charge the site's operators for criminal copyright infringement. "We have consistently said that AllofMP3.com is not licensed to distribute our members' repertoire in Russia or anywhere else," Igor Pozhitkov, regional director of IFPI Moscow said in a statement. "We are pleased that the police are bringing this important case to the attention of the prosecutor."

This is good news for the entertainment industry as it can be seen as a step forward for copyright holders in Russia. The music industry has had some problems in the past trying to convince Russian authorities to deal with piracy cases. The music market in Russia is ranked No. 12 in the world, which was about $326 million in 2003. The IFPI claim however that 64% of music consumed in the country has been pirated. The Moscow City Prosecutor's office has until March 7 to decide whether to act on the police department's recommendation.

Source:
News.com

Permalink to this article

AllofMP3.com responded to RIAA lawsuit (1 January 2007)

AllofMP3 refuses to buckle to US pressure (8 October 2006)

BPI cleared to sue AllofMP3.com (3 July 2006)

Music Industry wins German case against allofmp3.com (9 July 2005)

U.S. companies lose billions to Russian Piracy (25 February 2005)

Warner Home Video to challenge Chinese Piracy (25 February 2005)

Norwegian Supreme Court: Linking to MP3s illegal (29 January 2005)

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Discuss this article!
MXGzX (Member) 23 February 2005 10:02
the site has been around for a while and they are just trying to take action now...wow [ + quote]
domie (Member) 23 February 2005 10:58
well if you read the post....... " The music industry has had some problems in the past trying to convince Russian authorities to deal with piracy cases " the more time they spend trying to catch the REAL pirates and criminals, those who do it for profit and not via p2p just to share then delete, the better for me. [ + quote]
baki21 (Newbie) 23 February 2005 11:43
I hope this site does not shut down. It has a lot of music and the files are not encrypted. [ + quote]
daemonzx6 (Senior Member) 23 February 2005 16:13
The recording industry seems to be a little bit (a lot actually) slow in recognizing potential threats to their cash wad. Take BitTorrent for example, they just realized it was a threat a month or so ago, even though its been around for years. [ + quote]
neewbie (Member) 23 February 2005 17:48
Its a crappy site. Just like the rest [ + quote]
Hrdrk20 (Member) 23 February 2005 19:52
Fear not, www.filetopia.com is still active [ + quote]
baki21 (Newbie) 24 February 2005 1:08
Any other good recommendations to find music??? [ + quote]
A_Klingon (Moderator) 24 February 2005 1:25
I downloaded a few, totally free (mainstream) albums from these folks about a year ago. I am happy to see they are still around (for the time being anyway). Seems to me the RIAA is going to have it's hands full trying to tell the Russians what to do! (I love it!!) :-) [ + quote]
Mr_Taz_UK (Senior Member) 24 February 2005 1:36
Is it just me, or are the RIAA testing their cross border relations just a little too much of late. Baki21: Quote: Any other good recommendations to find music??? You know we can post that sort of thing here ! Try Google :o) [ + quote]
Repoman89 (Junior Member) 24 February 2005 4:43
It's an excellent site too, I payed 10 bucks and got 1000MB worth of very hard to find music (Jason Becker, Satriani, Cacophony and the like). If you can't find stuff on p2p go there before it gets shut down [ + quote]
belowline (Newbie) 24 February 2005 6:12
Try www.mp3search.ru [ + quote]
Mr_Taz_UK (Senior Member) 24 February 2005 8:18
[BOLD] ATTENTION NOOBS !!! 5. -> PIRACY AND LINKING TO PIRATED MATERIAL IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE FROZEN IF YOU DO THIS <- Read the rules !!![/BOLD] http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/2487 [ + quote]
ashroy01 (Senior Member) 25 February 2005 9:28
were U.S. customers their main source of revenue? [ + quote]