The owner of the once famed Allofmp3.com, Denis Kvasov has been acquitted of charges of copyright infringement stemming from his sale of bottom dollar priced MP3 files. The court in Moscow has ruled that Kvasov and his website were both working well within the limits of Russian law. Prior to being forcibly shut down in June of this year, Allofmp3.com had garnered millions of customers. Several music firms pressured Kvasov into shutting down his site and proceeded to progress with the lawsuit. Additionally, the music industry has enough influence on the US Government, that this ordeal with the website had hampered US-Russian talks over Moscow's bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Kvasov was forced to stand trial after being pressed for prosecution from EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal, however District Judge Yekaterina Sharapova threw out the case. She stated, "The prosecution did not succeed in presenting persuasive evidence of his involvement in infringing copyright law".
During the trial, Kvasov argued that he had paid royalties from the sales he made on his site to a local organization, the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society. With starting prices of individual tracks being at $.10 and entire albums brimming to $1, its hard to say just how much of this was paid out to the firm. Western organizations like the ones who issued the lawsuit fail to recognize the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society as a sanctioned entity, therefore do not agree to accept payments from them for licensed material.
A part of the negotiations between the United States and Russia stated that Russian websites that operated in a simliar manner as Allofmp3.com would not be tolerated and had to be shut down. Allofmp3.com itself was used as an example to further progress these WTO talks. Even though Allofmp3.com was made a scapegoat, several other low dollar Russian-based music sites opened up shortly after Allofmp3.com was taken down.
Source:
BBC
During the trial, Kvasov argued that he had paid royalties from the sales he made on his site to a local organization, the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society. With starting prices of individual tracks being at $.10 and entire albums brimming to $1, its hard to say just how much of this was paid out to the firm. Western organizations like the ones who issued the lawsuit fail to recognize the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society as a sanctioned entity, therefore do not agree to accept payments from them for licensed material.
A part of the negotiations between the United States and Russia stated that Russian websites that operated in a simliar manner as Allofmp3.com would not be tolerated and had to be shut down. Allofmp3.com itself was used as an example to further progress these WTO talks. Even though Allofmp3.com was made a scapegoat, several other low dollar Russian-based music sites opened up shortly after Allofmp3.com was taken down.
Source:
BBC
