By Stevie Smith Aug 16, 2007, 15:22 GMT
The war against online piracy took somewhat of a gut punch yesterday when the former boss of contentious music download service AllOfMP3.com walked free from a Russian court after being acquitted of charges surrounding content copyright infringement.
Denis Kvasov, owner of MediaServices – the company behind the now defunct AllOfMP3 Web site – emerged from the Russian court vindicated in his standpoint that MediaServices had operated within the law and had always paid a percentage of its download fees to content copyright holders, reports Reuters.
Despite massive pressure from some of the world’s leading music companies, including the likes of EMI, Warner Bros. and Universal, judge Yekaterina Sharapova concurred with Kvasov’s defence and offered that:
"The prosecution did not succeed in presenting persuasive evidence of [Kvasov’s] involvement in infringing copyright law," before then going on to say that, "MediaServices has paid a certain amount of money to ROMS [a Russian copyright fee collections organisation]," and has thus remained within the constraints of the law.
However, major music companies are displeased with the judge’s decision, not least because AllOfMP3 sold its downloads at a fraction of the price online consumers would usually face if purchasing from the likes of Apple’s iTunes or MP3.com.
"We are disappointed with the verdict and will appeal," commented Igor Pozhitkov, regional director of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which is representing the copyright holders in question.
AllOfMP3.com, which was closed in July of 2007 after credit card companies blocked customer payments to the music download portal, had become a hugely popular haunt, especially with the online masses looking to legally download content at a fraction of the accepted rate.
Influentially, prior to its closure, AllOfMP3 had become somewhat of a sticking point concerning Russia’s push for admittance into the World Trade Organisation. Specifically, one of the WTO’s core provisos is that member nations do not turn a blind eye to copyright infringement and the abuse of intellectual property rights – something considered to be fairly rife throughout Russia.
Not to be deterred by the focused attentions of some of the world’s biggest music and entertainment companies, MediaServices has since reopened its controversial music download business in the shape of MP3Sparks.com.
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Unaccepted RateSep 4th, 2007 - 00:22:29
'especially with the online masses looking to legally download content at a fraction of the accepted rate.' 'accepted rate?' By whom? Sounds like cartel pricing to me...
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