RSSUS Music Publishers Sue AllofMP3 for $1.65 Trillion
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published December 21, 2006, 6:44 PM
In a move curious only due to its relatively late timing, the major record production labels in the US have filed suit in federal court against Russian online music distributor AllofMP3.com, seeking $150,000 USD for each single violation of copyright infringement for tracks the site posted without authorization.
The lawsuit, brought by Sony BMG, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group - the "big four" - along with Arista Records and Capitol Records, estimates at least 11 million individual intellectual property violations. Thus the publishers are collectively seeking damages equaling the gross national product of many countries.
Their action comes five months after music publishers in Britain sued AllofMP3 in High Court there, and two months after a court in Denmark ordered ISPs in that country to block customer access to AllofMP3.
Last month, special delegates from the US Government met with their Russian counterparts to discuss measures that country must take in order to meet compliance standards for entry into the World Trade Organization. An agreement between the two nations last month specifically mentioned AllofMP3.com as one site that the Russian government must make an effort to keep under control.
In a statement last September before the US Chamber of Commerce, US trade representative Susan Schwab pointed to AllofMP3 as one of a mere handful of principal obstacles Russia must clear if it is to formally join the global economy.
"So far, the Russian authorities have allowed this site to operate with impunity," said Schwab. "We have made clear to Russia that improved protection for intellectual property is critical to its joining the WTO and we have specifically raised our concerns with allofmp3.com, the drafting of a new section of the Civil Code, and other key issues. We are very supportive of our industries' concerns in Russia and we are working to achieve better IPR protection and enforcement there."
For its part, Russia has pledged to pass laws by June of next year that would render AllofMP3's activities officially illegal.
Unlike P2P proprietors, which have defended themselves by saying they're only responsible for the networks their technology facilitates, and not the traffic that passes over them, AllofMP3.com charges subscription fees and/or a la carte costs per album (as opposed to per song), and hosts allegedly unauthorized tracks through its conventional, centralized server. In recent days, however, customers worldwide have found it difficult to pay, with Visa and MasterCard having disqualified AllofMP3 from payment service. The site's director general, Vadim Mamotin, has blasted the credit card services for their disqualification action, calling them "arbitrary, capricious and discriminatory," and adding they "lack the authority to adjudicate the legality of Allofmp3's activities."
While the site has been taken offline for days at a time throughout this year, its parent company, Mediaservices, appears to be enjoying the publicity and is spoiling for a good fight. In recent statements, it has claimed its service abides by current Russian law. It claims to pay royalties to ROMS, the copyright holder service sanctioned by the Russian Parliament, and to FAIR (Rights holders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively). Under Russian law, as long as a distributor of music pays 15% of its collection fees to ROMS, it's a legal service.
Yet the Recording Industry Association of America has stated it doesn't recognize ROMS as a legitimate royalties collector, nor do its affiliated labels actually receive allotments from either party. No agreement with record labels outside of Russia has apparently been negotiated with these agencies. Until that time, the Russian government itself could be the direct recipient of AllofMP3's purported royalties.
So the problem that US regulators, diplomats, and US-based music publishers now face is whether any rulings or threats they make - even if the publishers win their case here - will have any bearing upon lawmakers' decisions in Russia, where isolationism has recently one again reared its ugly head. Since 2003, the IFPI - which represents the recording industry worldwide - has been drawing attention to repeated postponements by the Russian Parliament and Russian courts to take any action toward hardening software piracy laws and enforcement.
That spotlight may have unintentionally created a kind of virtual petrie dish for unauthorized distributors such as AllofMP3 to have a base of support from individuals who see the site's very existence as a kind of crusade against organized music. With Russian senior officials acting of late as if they've been missing the Cold War, the kind of "line in the sand" that US officials have been drawing on this issue may not be taken as an invitation of friendship.
Maybe the music industry will pay off the U.S. debt with this. Then again, maybe they'll use the money to continue to put out C**p music.
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Who cares? The RIAA is hoping to gain credibility by making Allofmp3 look bad. The problem is that the RIAA and many of the Entertainment Companies are looking stupider and stupider....
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Anything goes beyond EU, N America, Singapore, Australia, NZ, Japan and S. Korea.
I wish them good luck. But I don't expect anything to happen.
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Wow! US$150,000 for a crappy song that we neither buy nor hear?!
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they might as well be asking for republic credits.
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This is a strange lawsuit. The damages are not what I would consider realistic. Unless the record labels truly believe that they are deserving of a payout like that due to their services to humanity (ummm...Britney Spears, backstreet boys...need I say more?). Also the issue of which law is paramount here. You have consumers in some countries purchasing products in another. The sale is legal in the country hosting the site and the purchase is legal in the consumer's country. Which law is paramount here?
This would almost parallel smuggling. In an act of smuggling, you have a product transported across borders in order to circumvent taxation or prohibition due to the laws in the destination country. In that case, the smuggler is guilty of a crime in the destination country and can be arrested if they lay hands on him. In this case there is no physical move of product and thus, no smuggler. My, My, what a conundrum...who is the bad guy if there is no smuggler? It would have to be the one bringing the product across the border, would it not?. That would most likely be the consumer in this case.
So in my amateur legal opinion the lawsuit is without merit.
Now we skip to the issue of the WTO (read US) trying to force Russia to change its local laws in order to suit US companies (read: campaign donors). Russia should tell the WTO to piss up a rope...but they probably won't. The political system is notoriously corrupt in that fine country (almost as corrupt as in the US) and they stand to get more from WTO membership than they will get in kickbacks from organizations like Allofmp3. So it is a simple matter of economics for them to shut this down.
As for the US bashing and conspiracy theories...does anyone really believe that stuff in your world? Well, if you do then say hey to Elvis for me when he returns on the mothership.
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The 2 faced artists (most of them) is what bothers me about illegal downloads. Don Henley, Mettalica, et.al. They b****, moan and complain while they have more money than the law allows. "Greed is good." In the beginning of their music careers they would have gladly signed a contract that stated that after they made x number of millions, their music would be free. Now that they are stars they want more, more, more. While they sing "driving down the road in my beat up ford." Barf!!!
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Hi folks! I live in Russia.
And it is strange to hear conversation of Americans on infringement of the rights.
Why they demand execution of THEIR laws and payment in USD. Money in Russia - RUB.
If Americans conduct an aggressive policy, impose the rules - why Russian should carry out them?
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I agree, because I understand what E. Europe goes through.
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I say vote Libetarian. We need a 3rd party both the political party are compliciant and don't care what we the people have to say.
Why not give Fair Tax a chance, get rid of illegal immigrants or heavily tax them since they mooch off our government yet a family of 5 making $70,000 can't get any aid and we have to pay for everything. How is 70k upper class when I can barely pay all my bills.
Yup great country we live in when we spend 2 billion a week in IRAQ but we cut billions from Education. We give billions of dollars of aid to Pakistan which harbors and trains terrorist but our countrymen go to bed hungry because the GOVT has cut welfare and aid to the poor.
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Heh.. In the Great State of Washington, and many others...(it seems to be a growing trend, sadly) Immigrants can apply for Welfare without proof of citizenship.
This is actually something they advertise on the local non-english stations. Of course, you never hear word one about it on the english stations.... Go figure.
...and we wonder why we're in debt we can't climb out of and they keep flooding in.
But hey, let's raise taxes some more. Us working folk don't mind paying a few extra thousand a year to feed the growing unrest and the further division of our cities.
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Perhaps I should not have posted what I did. I know this is a discussion about a lawsuit by the record labels. But by looking at the amount they are suing for and making stupid comments about why people hate Americans I thought I had to say something.
Do you people actually believe having Kerr voted in would have changed anything ? These lobbyists and corporate groups would have got what they wanted despite who is in power. Bush is just a puppet and blaming him for everything is stupid. The same people behind the scenes would have been controlling Kerr. Do you really think you have a democracy in America ? Electronic voting machines... haha how secuer is that. Just an easier way to rig the elections. Then we have DRM, Activation, The record labels tracking illegal downloads to sue people, grandmas, grandads and kids. Yes piracy is a big problem but does that give the record labels the right to use big brother tactics over us. Americans ( and Australians and people in the UK ) do not have freedom. We are destroying the rest of the world because of our fight for alleged freedoms yet at the same time due to the "war on terror" or the fight against piracy we are giving those freedoms away. Our movements on the net are tracked. When we catch a bus or train we are on security cameras. Here in Perth we have 3 or 4 security guards on every train. We can have our papers...I mean tickets checked 3 times on one train journey. Our employers can make us work overtime without pay up to 16 hours a day.
Then we have ignorant people ( I mean that without any disrespect ) who make comments like this. "Because the people of the USA do not allow for ourselfs to be hostage to IRAN and other country's is the USA's peoples fault! So be it" This whole anti Iran thing annoys me so much. Do you belive the anti Iran propaganda so blindly. They want to wipe Israel off the map is repeated so often here in Australia it makes me sick. The actual quote they take that from is so misconstued it's not funny. For a reality check the president of Iran said he wants to wipe the REGIME off the map. Read the full citation. He was talking about the political system, their leaders. He was talking about regime change. Not killing or destroying all of Israel. Why do you people who know so much about computers It and the net fail to use such a powerful tool to actually educate yourselves a little ?
Then we have this one "We also provide more humanitarian aid to countries around the world than any other country could *ever* hope to achieve." You are SO WRONG there. Humanitarian aid ? Do you know how much of this so called aid is actually wepaons ? Giving a country EXPIRED vaccines is what the US calls humanitarian aid. ( Australias aid is probably worse but at least we don't arm them to the teeth )If I was you I would read up on what aid the US really does supply before making commenst like that.
Wouldn't it be better for the record labels and any corporation to stop looting and raping countries through control of their financial systems and reserve banking and placing people into poverty ? But again I don't think those of you who belive the mainstream claptrap propaganda would even take the time to look into things themeselves. Believe the hyperbole all you like. The reason people hate America so much is because they at least have a small understanding of what the US has done to the world. But to simply apply all the blame to America alone would be wrong.
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"We also provide more humanitarian aid to countries around the world than any other country could *ever* hope to achieve."
I've read actual figures that prove this wrong. Percentage of GDP vs. amount given in foreign aid, however, is significantly lower than many nations. However, America as a whole does give more foreign aid than other countries do...mostly from religious organisations and other charities though. Bash the 700 club all you want--even I cannot stand some of their weird doctrine--but they give out millions of dollars in foreign aid a year. The Gates Foundation? Crazy amounts of money given to other nations. Heck, my local church gives some of their offering money to fund special projects for drilling water-wells in Mexico, for buying clothes and other necessities for some tribes in South Africa, assisting with the issues going on it Thailand where children are 'sold' to the highest bidder, etc.
Granted not every church does all of this, but there are many more that do this than you would believe. As a whole, America gives alot more than other countries do: http://gpr.hudson.org/fi.../GlobalPhilanthropy.pdf
American media is our biggest problem, I have come to believe. News reports are almost always one-sided, and it seems there are more and more people that are 'anti-american' that work in our top news organisations--so of course, they prefer anti-American news.
The reason people hate america is because the few Americans that are "looney" are the ones in the news. Ever seen a news report about American patriotism in the past few years? How about a report about how great America is? About anything POSITIVE? Of course not, because the news is most popular when it is controversial. Yeah, there are many on the defensive that make news, but mostly because their argument is flawed, bazaar, or just crazy. News Organizations have money on the brain, and unfortunately, America can burn for all they care just so long as they get their money and get their propoganda spread to the whole world.
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If You Can't Beat 'Em, Sue 'Em.
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Who knows if allofmp3 is completely legal?
However the entertainment industry is way out of line. They overcharge for discs whether cd or dvd, they receive royalty fees from many undeserved sources like recordable CDs and DVDs. Online music costs much to much for what the consumer gets. Usually the music available online is of low quality and costs about what you would pay for from a CD.
The entertainment industry owes it to the consumer to treat the consumer as their client not as idiots! As long as consumers see that they are not getting their money's worth they will get their entertainment however they choose.
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By Frostek
"RIAA executives taken to hospital suffering from major radiation poisoning"!
Hahahaha Toooo funny.
Why anyone would believe the US media about that poisened Russian "Spy" is beyond me. 10 Million dollars in radioactive material to poison someone. Hahhahaa Oh My god how do people belive anything in the mainstream propaganda I mean media anymore.
By Grazer
"The amount of ill-thought-out, knee-jerk anti-American posts here seems to be growing."
Grazer have you ever thought as to why ?
The US is the largest terrorist state in the world. Along with the UK and in Australia as they are guilty by Association. Bush Blair and Howard are all war criminals of the highest order.
They through their organisations such as the WTO and IMF and any other of their thinktanks and world bodies are destroying every country. No wonder so much of the world lives in abject poverty. There is NO SUCH thing as free trade. Or liberty or freedom or human rights.
You will find people do not hate Americans ( ie the people ) They hate their corporations their leaders and their elite.
Geez if it wasn't for the fact that here in Australia wenow have the worlds most draconian Industrial Relations laws of any country in the world I would quite happily by a CD every week like I used to be able to afford to do.
Grazer I recomend you watch a few documentaries to see why the world HATES the US so much ( again I mean the government etc )
Look up Google video for :
Why we fight
The Money Masters
The Trials fo Henry Kissinger
The corporation
Or even read some books like Anglo American Oil Geopolitics and the New World Order.
That is just the tip of the iceburg why people are so anti American.
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just go blow yourself up on a bus or something already will ya.
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We also provide more humanitarian aid to countries around the world than any other country could *ever* hope to achieve.
Nice, how ya left that out.
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Still does not explain why the whole world hates the US, and why the American citizens continue to vote Bush into power, despite him having the intelligence of a chimpanzee.
Your country really is the laughing stock of the world...
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Nope, you're quite wrong; we hate 51% of the people too.
Anyone who votes for Bush is hated throughout the world.
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The world hates me? Well damn that makes me a sad panda.
....OK not really, I really don't care what some half whits think of me. I've said this before and I'll say it again, If the choice was Kerry or Bush all over again, I'd still pick Bush because Kerry would have been as big if not bigger, of a disaster.
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You must be very good at playing Follow the Leader.
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Hmmm--you DO have a good point there...
Seriously, Dems likely understand this concept as well, therefore it would be stupid of them IMO to push Kerry as the primary candidate for 2008. Not that I care, since it is unlikely I will vote for a Dem--but who knows???
Sadley, Im afraid both candidates will stink in 2008. Honestly, the only candidate I would really support that might possibly run is Newt Gingrich, but that will never happen (just the same as saying people will NOT flame me for wanting him for President 2008 :)
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"Still does not explain why the whole world hates the US, and why the American citizens continue to vote Bush into power, despite him having the intelligence of a chimpanzee."
I have come to realise that most Bush haters really just needed a skapegoat to blame their own problems on. Since Bush-bashing is the new fad, why not blame Bush for your country's problems? Blame him for 9-11? For solar flares? For your Xbox 360 breaking?
We voted him into power because it would be better to have someone who isn't smart that wants to do the right thing than a smart person who does the wrong thing--but then again, Kerry wasn't even that smart, so it was a no-brainer in 2004...
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Ya Blame Bush. He bombed the WTC on 911 right?? Guess what?? This has been going on for over 1500 years! The fact is most of these problems were because of european colonialism of the 1600 -1800s. Because the people of the USA do not allow for ourselfs to be hostage to IRAN and other country's is the USA's peoples fault! So be it! There is a reason the USA HAD to SAVE the EU many times!
People in the EU love to sell very bad things to people because they like the money!
You really think the leader of the USA will change anything???
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Hey! Watch what you folks say!
We have a grand tradition to protect on this site, and having a thread take a dangerous turn towards sentience may start a fad!
I do agree with the support of Newt though...it is ironic that he seems to be the only one with a very rational approach of the actual world situation rather than the emotional sound bites pandering to the various special interest groups.
And that should really upset many who will have no idea as to what I refer but who will say they dont't need to as they already know everything. But its refreshing to hear someone actually turn off the one trick pony Tim Russert with actual ideas in a discussion rather than to pander to Russert's hystrionic rant.
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Still does not explain why the whole world hates the US
Easy. One word, even:
Wealth.
...and everything it entails aside from the obvious material wealth; privilege, happiness, pride, generosity, etc.
The rest is simply an extension of our wealth.
The same thing has happened to every country in the world once they reached a certain point. Rome is a good example. Wealth breeds arrogance, pride, prejudice, and apathy towards everyone considered beneath you (which in the case of Rome...and the US...is everyone.)
Some of us are still working to stop folks like Hilary Clinton from turning this nation into a nation of cowards (We cannot offend anyone) and victims (everyone's a victim), but it's a long road...
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i more or less agree. despite all of its problems (and there are a lot) the usa is one best places to be for the average person. it seems these days people are focused on all the bad crap and forget the good stuff that made people come here. people do love to hate, it is fun. some of it we deserve but a lot is exagerated by people who don't have enough facts to really have an opinion. i think that things are so twisted these days that probably no one knows whats really going on, aside from the stone cutters.
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Look up Google video for...
Yeah, I have seen some of those videos. I took a bull$#!t 400-level sociology course to fulfill an "International" requirement for my CS degree. While I will admit not everything is perfect with the organizations you mention, most of the documentaries seemed like whining. I have no sympathy for "mom and pop" farmers here in the US whining how they can't compete with industrial farming, when they get insane subsidies just to keep them afloat. Why should I have sympathy for the same people in other countries? What most the documentaries fail to overlook is that those countries don't sign with the WTO because they are doing great. If these countries were soo great before joining the WTO, why did they agree to the usurious loans?
You will find people do not hate Americans ( ie the people ) They hate their corporations their leaders and their elite.
You might want to pay a little more attention to the comments here. Americans are frequently assumed to be stupid, Bush-supporting, corporate dogs...despite the fact that Bush barely won either election (and some will still dispute if he actually did).
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Yes, Mister AllOfMP3 Lawyer, your ransome will be.... *brass horns*
ONE HUNDRED TRILLION BILLION DOLLARS!!
Someone take Mister Bigglesworth! Come, Mini-Me!
Muhahhahaaaa
MUHAHAHAHAAAAA
MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA
MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
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Hahahahaha.
Yes.
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"The lawsuit, brought by Sony BMG, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group - the "big four" - along with Arista Records and Capitol Records, estimates at least 11 million individual intellectual property violations. Thus the publishers are collectively seeking damages equaling the gross national product of many countries."
There it is: the disturbing part. Actually that is normal in lawsuits--always sue for more than you could possibly receive because if you sue for too little, you can't ever get that money back. Sue for too much, and they may give you less, but never more.
I'll hold my criticism until AFTER there is an actual amount awarded. If they get the full money's worth, then the US regulaters are picking a fight with Russia.
(sarcasm) And yes, I'm sure Bush personally ordered this evil scheme so that he and "his cronies" can secretly start another war with Russia. (rolls eyes, end sarcasm)
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That amount could pay just under a 5th of the US national debt! That's what the Gov should do - sue companies for ridiculous amounts of money and the debt will be paid within 6 lawsuits!
I just solved the US National debt problem!
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...Or perhaps the idea really WAS Bush's?!? OH NO! Read my last paragraph of the comment above...Bush haters will eat this up, I predict!
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The RIAA etc have never been exactly competent as
as business people, and even worse as artistic types
so a ridiculous amount like that shouldn't surprise
me.
Worth noting is it took them five month to borrow
the British "let's sue!"--they apparently couldn't
think of that on their own.
BTW, I side with both the RIAA and Allofmp3.
Each side has valid points, but the RIAA etc, in
my opinion, is trying to be a monopoly and so
will never agree to a new competitor until they
should have for, say, 20 years.
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You know what they are using that money for... to buy nice tropical plants for their office :P
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In Soviet Russia, MP3s sue YOU!
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It's funny how they come up with this number. This so call "Big 4" combine market value is not even close to 1 trillion.
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...Trillion? haha
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That is absolutely ridiculous. They have absolutely lost their minds. $150,000 per violation? Who comes up with this stuff?
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From Russia With Love....
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It won't stop me from boycotting them and their artists... Only encourage me besides, there's plenty of good indie artists worth discovering.
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Who's there Lead Counsel, Dr. Evil and #2???
I am also sure that even if that were a foreseeable amount and they won and got paid, I am sue they would take all that $$$ and hand it right over to the artists (Sarcasm).
I have to think now: $150,000 per Single…
That means that my 200 CD Collection which most CD’s have about 12 Tracks on them is worth: $360,000,000.00. I am sitting on a Fortune, I better e-Bay my collection and set the Buy It Now option up. I might have to charge a little extra for shipping, you know with the price of gas still up there.
I have said it before and I will say it again:
RIAA, STOP SUEING YOUR CUSTOMER BASE! EMBRACE THE TECHNOLOGY!
For the Music Industry, to product one (1) CD cost them a little over $1.00. Then they sell it to the consumer for anywhere between $10 - $20 of which the artist themselves get about $0.89 of each CD Sold.
The RIAA has more money then the Oil Companies and they are nothing but a Middle Man (Lawyers). They are a Governing Body, there is no actual (Physical) work they do.
Long Live P2P and sites like AllOfMP3.com
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This is absolutely hilarious.
TRILLION??
"Ok, we'll pay. We only have singles though..."
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Pennies. Gotta pay in pennies...
..and make RIAA pay the shipping.
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Just have Big Brother Microsoft shut down there servers.........
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LOLest story of the year! :)
Good luck to "Big Four" in their tries to sue foreign company under US laws :)
They've lost hold on reality. If they're really serious, FBI should pay attention, 'cause it looks like the heavy drugs mind issue
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Isn't 1.65 Trillion USD about the same as Dr. Evil demands in Austin Powers? ....
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Isn't he only demands 1 MILLION DOLLARS?
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That's the funny thing about this story. It was the one time where I really sided with the RIAA, and they have managed, once again, to do something so totally ludicrous that they have lost any sympathy (however little) I might have had for them.
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I think $1.65 Trillion USD is not enough, perhaps 10 Gazillion USD is more suitable...
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If I told my psydoc I was planning to do something like this he would have me locked up. Give these people a strong antipsychotic.
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Any ruling in an American court on allofmp3 would be outside US jurisdiction. It's a Russian company and therefore subject to Russian laws.
Oh, and the operators of the site can't be extradited to the US, because a recently passed law prohibits extradition to other countries.
$1.65 trillion is a bit much. Are they going to claim they lost $1.65 trillion of sales?
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Excessive, much?
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Why do these idiotic american institutions think they can sue foreign companies? Forget the WTO, they have no legal standing. They could sue for zillion dollars and it would still be laughed out of court. RIAA needs to shutup before they find some pollonium in their malt liquor courtesy of the Russian secret service!
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While that isn't really something to joke around about, I can't say it would break my heart either if events like that came to pass.
Now if RIAA was attempting to gain credibility, they sure blew it all away with this latest fiasco.
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Why do these idiotic american institutions think they can sue foreign companies?
They must think they are in the EU, where all you need to warrant suing a foreign company is showing they have proprietary code and are very successful.
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LOL that is gold. :)
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Lol, "we have made it clear to Russia". Hahahah! Russia is the main producer of oil now, bigger than Saudi Arabia, so our music pimps had better stop being so c***y.
The ball is in Russia's court.
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I think this is wonderful! Western culture is moving into Russia, how fantastic is that! Fact is, 25 years ago, this suit couldn't have taken place. What a wondeful world we live in.
But, on this specific case, the RIAA are just blowing hot air, they know this will do nothing. Its nice to see the hard earned money of artists used in useless cases. I agree with someone here who suggested this money could be used for better causes. Maybe I'd like them better if they'd drop this case and donate all the wasted money from this to some poor people somewhere...
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Are there any P2P services left that allow free exchange of music without the RIAA being able to track your downloading?
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Try private virtual networks such as WASTE.
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f**K riaa long live p2p all riaa is are gready little bas****s wanting money
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it's refreshing to see all comments in italic.
RIAA... sigh.. it's RIAAmeirca, what do you expect?
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it's RIAAmeirca, what do you expect?
The same thing I expect of any industry-based conglomeration of lawyers of any country.
The amount of ill-thought-out, knee-jerk anti-American posts here seems to be growing.
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I'm sure the time, labor and funds WTO has expended towards this rather silly issue could have fed a lot of starving people and helped with medicine and clothing. Oh, nevermind. I forgot. IP is more important than life.
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Someone needs to learn how to close tags. ;)
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Isn't greed wonderful? Waste of time that will get charged back to consumers here eventually. The RIAA should just go away and die!
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I really do hope that that site and its owners die and burn in hell. Those ****ing pirates benefitting from the scene.
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ROMS and FAIR have both offered to give the royalties AllofMP3.com has paid them to the RIAA and their affiliated labels but the wonderful idiots at the RIAA thumbed their noses saying it wasn't enough money.
The folks at the RIAA are the ones that should burn in hell. AllofMP3.com has done nothing wrong since they already offered to pay the RIAA a reasonable amount of money for selling their affiliates' copyrighted music.
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@smarterthanyou
For the record I think the RIAA is over-the-top ridiculous in its pursuit of music sharing. Common sense should tell you that their is no way the RIAA should accept any offer after the fact as compensation for unauthorized music sales.
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I'm not sure if this is really an after the fact. As far as i know, they've been paying the ROMS from the beginning, thus complying with all Russian laws.
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If you want to do business in a country and make your product available in that country then you should be required to follow every single law that applies to your product in that country. In other words, if the RIAA wants people living in Russia to be able to purchase copies of its record companies' music they should be required to recognize ROMS and FAIR as legitimate royalty collectors.
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Does the Russian company do business in other parts of the world? Do they follow the rules set forth by the owner of the property and its country of origin? Read their website, they aren't even sure.
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They don't need to.
It is the labels that do business in Russia that need to recognize ROMS and FAIR. If they do not like it, they have 3 choices.
1. Stop promoting / releasing their music in Russia.
2. Shove their greed and do business in the country abiding that countries laws, regulations and licensing freedoms
3. b**** and whine endlessly until they either fade away like they should have long ago, or (more likely) ruin yet another great example of how they *should* be doing business.
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Or at teh very least stop whining about not getting any money out of the deal. The fact they go unpaid is *their* fault, not ROMS, FAIR, or AllofMP3's fault.
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allofmp3 if its legal in russia and russia only why do they accept payments from people all over the world they could if they wanted to block all non russian users but they dont, you pay by credit card on a credit card payment country of origin is always posted so they could block any one that doesnt reside in the russian federation, so they are breaking the law and i know for a fact i own the rights to a song on there my contract with one of the big four states that all compostions by me once my contract was up i would own all publishing rights to it. so i control everything on this recording and i didnt give any type of permission to all of mp3 and the song wasnt even released in Russia, it was never on any recording ment to be released in russia at all
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Any decision in a US court is 100% non-binding to a Russian company. They could sue for more money than there is on Earth, and win, and receive absolutely nothing other than still having to pay their own legal fees.
To get anything out of this, the suit would have to be in a Russian court -- and good luck with that, as AllofMP3.com is perfectly in compliance with Russian law.
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Somewhat true. Russia doesn't want to overtly burn too many western bridges, as it still needs foreign investment and trade. However, it is funny that the case was filed in the U.S. where the statutory copyright value per music work is $750, not $150,000, so this may indicate some other issues at play besides purely copyright damages.
It will become increasingly common to see legal/ethical clashes in international litigation. Everyone in the legal communities know that and are simply watching to see how fast it begins clashing and what happens each time. We've only just begun that journey. Religious and cultural differences are going to be tough to settle in a purely legal venue. Some cultures don't hold belief in ownership of music or art. Should be interesting.
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Very true. Can't wait... ugh.
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"Some cultures don't hold belief in ownership of music or art."
Like the culture of the RIAA. They don't believe the artists should get what they have coming for their work.
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I understand their right to sue these activities... or can you imagine their executives living a life like any other worker? the music stars share their life with the rest of mortals?
They are right on this and I stand behind them!
/sarcasm off
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Holy crap, that's a lot of money. I think the RIAA should learn from this and try to compete with them. But they'd rather charge a premium price for the music and sue everybody, including there customers.
It would be funny if Allofmp3 did a counter sue for 1.65 trillion and won.
*Test*
http://www.chipse.cx/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/ps3liebackend2mv.jpg
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"$1.65 Trillion USD"
Now really, even you anti-pirating zealots can't seriously believe that is a fair price (not that there is any way in hell they'll get that) for what is strictly speaking legal in the country of origin.
Whether or not it is ethically right or whatever other argument you choose to come up with doesn't come in to it.
A loaf of bread is 99c, just like a song. Would it be right to ask me for $1.65 TRILLION after stealing 11,000,000 loaves of bread? (What the calculation of that works out to [I think]).
If they have 11,000,000 songs on their site I'm impressed.
That sum is greed.
Plain. And. Simple.
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I'm a zealot but it's not because I harbor any love for the RIAA, they suck monkey d***...but they have the right to protect the property of it's members.
And yea, that sum is silly. They can't seriously think that AllofMP3 actually caused that kind of loss. It's a sum made to make a statement, shock value nothing more. IF they win (and even I have to admit that it's a pretty big "if") they would be lucky to get even 1/100th of that as a judgment and collect 1/1000th of it.
Funny in a way, the tactic is likely to backfire on them. The huge sum draws headlines and attention but it also pours attention into AllofMP3's business and drives people who might not have, to check them out.
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Next week's headline...
"RIAA executives taken to hospital suffering from major radiation poisoning"!
Well, it could happen... ;-)
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Is Dr. Evil involved in this monetary amount somehow? :-)
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They asked for too little..
They should've asked for a zillion.
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