RIAA Drops Allofmp3 Lawsuit; Pretends Mp3Sparks Doesn't Exist

Fri, Oct 19th 2007 4:05pm

Filed Under:
russia, us, wto

Companies:
allofmp3, alltunes, riaa

23 Comments | Leave a Comment..

US Tells Russia To Change Laws So It Can Say Allofmp3 Was Always Illegal

from the what-a-waste-of-diplomatic-time dept

We recently wrote about how the US gov't has been saying repeatedly that it won't let Russia into the WTO if Allofmp3 comes back to life. This does seem rather ridiculous for a variety of reasons. After all, within Russia, the company has been found to be legal. And, secondly, it's not as if the US is in the WTO's good graces after ignoring the WTO's ruling on online gambling. If the WTO really wanted to punish the US for ignoring that issue, why not ignore the US's pleas to keep Russia out of the WTO itself? In the meantime, there's a bizarre statement in an article discussing Rep. Howard Berman once again saying that Russia needs to stop Allofmp3.com if it wants into the WTO. The article discusses how Russia has been slowly changing its laws following all this pressure from the US, and under the new laws, Allofmp3 may now be considered illegal. Yet, rather than focus on how it was the change of laws that made a previously legal service suddenly illegal, the article notes that "those legal changes could confirm what record companies have believed all along--that the Russian music stores are illegal." That seems rather bizarre, doesn't it? If the law gets changed, that doesn't confirm what's been said all along at all. It actually confirms the opposite. That the services were perfectly legal until a bunch of protectionist politicians who represent districts where the entertainment industry is based, bullied a foreign country into changing its laws to protect outdated business models.

Say That Again

Wed, Aug 29th 2007 6:33pm

Filed Under:
us, wto

Companies:
allofmp3, wto

47 Comments | Leave a Comment..

US Says WTO Won't Let In Russia If Allofmp3 Comes Back To Life

from the something-seems-wrong-here... dept

With Allofmp3.com announcing that it plans to reopen the site now that (once again) the site has been found to be legal under Russian laws, it didn't take long for the RIAA... er... U.S. government to make its unhappiness clear. A spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative has announced that if Allofmp3.com reopens, then Russia has kissed away its chance to join the WTO. This isn't all that surprising, given that the U.S. (at the urging of the RIAA) threatened Russia that it would keep the nation out of the WTO unless it shut down Allofmp3.com. Of course, it doesn't make much sense either. This is a private dispute between private entities. It doesn't seem reasonable for the US gov't to be getting involved. Secondly, as should now be quite clear, Allofmp3.com is operating legally under Russian laws. So it hasn't done anything wrong either. Just because some companies in the US don't like the fact that Allofmp3 has come up with a business model that customers actually like, it doesn't mean that the US gov't should ban Russia from the WTO. And, of course, this doesn't even begin to get into how ridiculous it is that the business model of a single small company should be the key factor in whether or not an entire country is allowed into the WTO. In the meantime, given how often the US has been ignoring the WTO over the Antigua online gambling case, perhaps the WTO should simply ignore the US on this one.

Wed, Aug 15th 2007 7:42pm

Filed Under:
downloads, music, russia

Companies:
allofmp3

34 Comments | Leave a Comment..

Once Again, Russian Court Finds Allofmp3 To Be Legal

from the nothing-wrong-there dept

Back in 2005, following a criminal investigation of the site Allofmp3.com in Russia, officials declined to press charges, noting that the site did appear to be operating legally under existing Russian laws. That, of course, set off a string of events, including having the US pressure Russia to change its laws or risk being kept out of the WTO. Eventually, Russia did change some laws and forced Allofmp3.com to shut down, though it quickly popped up again under another name. It didn't take long for the big record labels to then push for the criminal prosecution of the site's owner, when all he had really done was help demonstrate a business model for selling music that seemed to be working well (i.e., price it reasonably and don't restrict it with DRM). Also, he tried to pay royalties to the RIAA, but they wouldn't accept them. Luckily for Allofmp3, it didn't take long for a court to see through the recording industry's arguments and throw out the case, pointing out (once again), that the site didn't break any Russian laws, while also noting that the record labels did an awful job presenting any real evidence of copyright infringement on the part of Allofmp3.

Wed, Jul 25th 2007 11:03pm

Filed Under:
copyright, russia

Companies:
allofmp3, riaa

58 Comments | Leave a Comment..

Allofmp3.com Owners Could Face Jailtime For Demonstrating Better Business Model To RIAA

from the how-dare-they! dept

The saga of Allofmp3 is quite well known at this point. The company that was apparently following the laws of Russia for licensing music made a name for itself selling DRM-free music at very reasonable points. Rather than recognizing that this was proof of a very viable business model for the recording industry, the recording industry turned to US gov't officials to pressure Russia into shutting down the site by threatening to block Russia's entrance into the WTO. Eventually, Russia caved. And, while the site was eventually shut down, an almost identical site quickly popped up in its place. That, of course, can't be good for Russian politicians looking to get into the WTO, so now they're threatening jailtime for Allofmp3's owner. If you step back and look at the big picture, a struggling U.S. industry has had its gov't pressure a foreign gov't to throw a foreign entrepreneur in jail for demonstrating a better business model to them. This is the world we live in.

by Carlo Longino

Mon, Jul 16th 2007 5:40pm

Filed Under:
copyright, entertainment, music

Companies:
allofmp3, ifpi, visa