Andre Yoskowitz
8 Jun 2008 2:58
MP2P Techonologies has announced that they were recently served with a lawsuit by the Spanish branches of the Big 4 labels. Warner Music Spain, Universal Music Spain, EMI music Spain and Sony BMG Music along with the Spanish branch of the IFPI, the Promusicae, are seeking $20 million USD in damages for what they call "unfair competition."
"We intend to vigorously defend ourselves against this shake down attempt by the major label cabal," said Pablo Soto, founder and CEO of MP2P Technologies. "Rather than embracing technology, they have chosen a path that will ultimately lead to their own demise, as evidenced by the label's consistent decline over the past decade. Litigation is in itself not a valid business model for them, however, it has been a dogged and futile pursuit of theirs since the advent of P2P."
"PROMUSICAE (Spanish branch of the IFPI; international arm of the RIAA) tried to proceed with civil suits against users of P2P networks in Spain and, after being halted by the Court of Justice of the EU, it has now decided to go against a neutral communication tool such as P2P technology," added Soto.
Soto, for his part, is known internationally as a P2P pioneer among the ranks of Justin Frankel (creater of Gnutella) and Shawn Fanning (creator of the original Napster).