IFPI criticized in AllofMP3.com case
p2pnet news | Music:- “I want to draw particular attention to the sloppy job done by prosecutors in collecting and analyzing the facts.”
When a sentence like that comes in a court hearing, it’s a good bet the organised music cartel is involved somewhere.
The scathing remark came from judge Yekaterina Sharapova who’d been hearing a case lodged by the Big 4’s IFPI (International Federation of Phonographic Industry).against AllofMP3.com’s Denis Kvasov, accused of illegally distributing copyrighted music online, but who’s been cleared of wrong-doing.
Igor Pozhitkov, the IFPI’s boss in Russia, was “very disappointed” with the outcome, according to the Moscow Times.
MediaServices is the business end of AllofMP3.com and it’s always maintained its operation was perfectly legal, saying appropriate payments were made to to the Russian collection society ROMS.
However, the IFPI says ROMS doesn’t look after Big 4 rights in Russia.
Now it looks like all AllofMP3.com is clear to pick up where it left off, to the chagrin of the Bush administration which has been firmly in lockstep with the various elements of the entertainment industry as they try to to impose their will on the Net.
“Under the licensing agreement, MediaServices pays a percentage of each download fee to ROMS, which in turn pays rights holders,” the Moscow Times story states, going on, “ROMS chief Oleg Nezus said Wednesday that the Moscow Arbitration Court ruled in 2004 that AllofMP3.com’s activities were legal, adding that he expected the company to resume its online sale of digital music.”
And, “According to the court, the investigator had failed to collect sufficient number of proofs, while the claimant, IFPI, had failed to submit the documents that would confirm the title of EMI, Warner Music and Universal to tracks sold at Allofmp3.com,” says Kommersant, continuing:
Allofmp3.com was an export-targeted store and the western license holders have always viewed it one of the key suppliers of the pirate music worldwide. So, somewhat at the end of 2006, Sony BMG, UMG Recordings, Warner Bros. Records filed a lawsuit to the Court of New York against Mediaservices, seeking the damage compensation of $1.65 trillion on aggregate. Closing Allofmp3.com was one of conditions specified by the WTO nations for Russia’s admission to their club.
Kvasov’s lawyer, Eduard Margulyan, said he’d always been concerned by the “media hype surrounding the case,” says the Moscow Times, adding:
“My fears centered around the connection between AllofMP3.com and the anti-piracy campaign in the press,” Margulyan said.
A number of criminal investigations have been opened against MediaServices directors at the behest of Igor Pozhitkov, director of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in Russia and the CIS, a lobbying group.
Two more criminal cases involving AllofMP3.com were scheduled – one against MediaServices director Vadim Mamotin, and the other against the company for violating intellectual property rights.
The cases are significant because of the manner in which the major record labels and Hollywood studios have been able to use the compliant Bush administration and mainstream media to bring tremendous negative pressure to bear on a small foreign company.
The multi-billion-dollar entertainment industry claims it’s being ruined by file sharers and counterfeiters whom it wrongly lumps together, saying they’re causing financial “devastation” to the companies and tremendous distress to workers who are being laid off as a direct result of ‘piracy’.
File sharers are thieves and criminals, say EMI (Britain), Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany) and Warner Music (US) through their enforcement units such as the IFPI.
However, although there’s no question counterfeiters and duplicators and anyone who sells corporate product in any way on- or offline is committing a criminal act, file sharing does not fall under the same umbrella and indeed, it’s often said it’s an invaluable form of viral marketing.
Certainly, under it, no crime has been committed, no one has been deprived of any thing they formerly owned, no money has changed hands and it’s never been even vaguely demonstrated that file shared equals a sale lost, contrary to corporate assertions.
Definitely stay tuned.
Click the mic on the right to hear David Bannister’s p2pnetcast of this story >>>>
Also See:
cleared of wrong-doing – AllofMP3 boss Kvasov ‘not guilty’, August 15, 2007
Moscow Times – AllofMP3 Survives First Test In Court, August 16, 2007
Kommersant – No Use Going to Court Against Internet, August 16, 2007
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August 20th, 2007 at 9:42 am
It’s my understanding that ROMS is more or less the Russian equivalent of the US’s Soundexchange. Both are music royalty collection societies sanctioned by their respective governments. The difference is, Soundexchange is under the control of the music industry…ROMS is not. Therefore, the music industry refuses to register with ROMS and refuses to acknowledge it’s authority, despite the fact that fees are collected on behalf of the music industry’s members.
Of course, Soundexchange does the same thing to indies…collecting fees and licensing music for anyone and everyone involved in music, regardless of whether they are an official member or even recognize Soundexchange as legitimate. This demonstrates the brazen hypocrisy of the music industry.
September 20th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
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