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From Russia with Love
MP3 website case highlights international copyright difficulties
A couple of weeks ago, it seemed as though the Russian MP3 site allofmp3.com would be consigned to the dustbin of history. The site had been selling an impressive collection of songs on MP3 for 5 to 30 cents each, without the permission of the labels that owned the copyrights to them. It argued that its actions were legal under Russian law since it paid royalties to ROMS, that country's copyright-collection agency, although the labels never collected from ROMS. A specter was haunting the music business, which wondered, what is to be done?
This was more serious than my lame puns make it sound: U.S. trade representative Susan Schwab hinted that the issue could keep Russia out of the World Trade Organization. And though the site shut down in June, former company boss Denis Kvasov was acquitted in Russian court of violating intellectual property laws in mid-August. A message posted on the site the weekend of August 26 says, "The service will be resumed in the foreseeable future."" Confusingly, the message was dated August 31.
A sketchy international business dealing in gray-market data and communicating in blog posts from the future sounds like the stuff of a cyberpunk novel. But it's all too real for the music business. Let it be clear: I don't believe in cheating artists or record companies – and I'd think twice about giving my credit card number to a dodgy business in Russia. But this is going to get complicated quickly.
If allofmp3.com is in fact legal under Russian law – whatever that means at this point in time – the only way the music business could shut it down is by getting the U.S. or the E.U. to put pressure on Russia. But other countries see this as McDonald's-style American imperialism, and it won't play with voters who realize that their own country's intellectual property laws tend to benefit the U.S. Last year Swedish activists formed the Pirate Party in an attempt to reform laws there. Avast!
This was more serious than my lame puns make it sound: U.S. trade representative Susan Schwab hinted that the issue could keep Russia out of the World Trade Organization. And though the site shut down in June, former company boss Denis Kvasov was acquitted in Russian court of violating intellectual property laws in mid-August. A message posted on the site the weekend of August 26 says, "The service will be resumed in the foreseeable future."" Confusingly, the message was dated August 31.
A sketchy international business dealing in gray-market data and communicating in blog posts from the future sounds like the stuff of a cyberpunk novel. But it's all too real for the music business. Let it be clear: I don't believe in cheating artists or record companies – and I'd think twice about giving my credit card number to a dodgy business in Russia. But this is going to get complicated quickly.
If allofmp3.com is in fact legal under Russian law – whatever that means at this point in time – the only way the music business could shut it down is by getting the U.S. or the E.U. to put pressure on Russia. But other countries see this as McDonald's-style American imperialism, and it won't play with voters who realize that their own country's intellectual property laws tend to benefit the U.S. Last year Swedish activists formed the Pirate Party in an attempt to reform laws there. Avast!
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