James Delahunty
1 Jan 2007 3:58
Russian-based AllofMP3.com has chosen to be defiant after a lawsuit was filed against the service in New York. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) claims that the service is illegal and infringes on its members' copyright by failing to pay fees to record companies while selling music at prices less than 10c per DRM-free download. The RIAA claims that 11 million songs have been pirated and wants to be compensated.
Considering that the RIAA expects $150,000 per "infringement", that brings the lawsuit to a figure of $1.65 trillion, just under the Gross Domestic Product for the United Kingdom in 2005. The lawsuit was filed against Media Services (which owns AllofMP3) on December 21st in New York. AllofMP3 denies that it is an illegal service and claims it complies with Russian laws - making it a legal site.
The company pays fees to the Russian royalty collection society, ROMS. Therefore, it believes the responsibility to compensate copyright holders properly lies with ROMS. Despite the ridiculously large figure provided by the RIAA in the complaint, AllofMP3.com has kept up its defiant attitude.
"AllofMP3 understands that several U.S. record label companies filed a lawsuit against Media Services in New York," an unnamed senior company official stated. "This suit is unjustified as AllofMP3 does not operate in New York. Certainly the labels are free to file any suit they wish, despite knowing full well that AllofMP3 operates legally in Russia. In the mean time, AllofMP3 plans to continue to operate legally and comply with all Russian laws."
The RIAA can be seen as a victim of its own tactics, displaying that morality has no place in litigation, targeting the young, old, rich and poor in copyright infringement lawsuits for sharing music. With this word-for-word use of the DMCA in the United States, the RIAA should understand that if on paper, AllofMP3.com complies with Russian laws, then it is effectively a legal service in Russia where it operates from.
With that being said, you cannot argue that artists and copyright holders do not deserve their cut from the sale of their work by an online service. The AllofMP3 situation will continue to be an interesting one to follow.
Source:
Ars Tecnhica