AllOfMP3.com Deemed LEGAL!

[Zisguy1]

Keep in mind its not been Deemed "ok", just "yeah its a loop hole" its only ok until they make it not.

I don't think they necessarily will... Russia is ostensibly capitalist, but they have decades of socialism/communism in their heritage. Now I'm no communist, but socialism has its attractions -- it's basically about sharing resources rather than the darwinistic "whoever dies with the most toys wins" attitude of capitalism.

[AlecWest]

My point is just that neglecting to bring a suit has no bearing on the legality of the actions. Only a court of law can make such a legal conclusion.

Willingness to prosecute has a direct bearing on legality. I suspect the prosecutor did not make this decision alone ... that he consulted with colleagues and perhaps even judges before dropping the matter. In no way do I think he "just" dropped the case. Otherwise, I agree ... and wish this had gone to trial to settle the matter, once and for all.

Well yes of course, but that's exactly what the allegations are...that they AREN'T fulfilling their obligations. This is a question of fact, not law. Only a civil suit will determine whether their operations are legal or not, unless the parties otherwise settle this outside of the court system.

A civil suit does not determine "criminality," only "tortability." So, even if the plaintiff(s) win a civil suit against AllOfMP3.com, it doesn't mean that what they're doing is illegal. Only a criminal court can make that determination and, so far, the determination they've made is that Russian law has no current statute regulating transfers of digital property. However, if they later pass a law that does, AllOfMP3.com will likely escape prosecution simply by complying with it (eg., going out of business ... at least, in Russia).

That is the worst case scenario for AllOfMP3.com unless Russian law is changed to allow for ex-post-facto prosecution.

[AlecWest]

BTW, sooner or later, I expect you'll hear the name "HavenCo" associated with digital media downloads (audio and video). They're incorporated in the country of Sealand (yes, Sealand) ... and this comes from their acceptable use policy:

Sealand currently has no regulations regarding copyright, patents, libel, restrictions on political speech, non-disclosure agreements, cryptography, restrictions on maintaining customer records, tax or mandatory licensing, DMCA, music sharing services, or other issues; child pornography is the only content explicitly prohibited.

[vitualis]

Sealand is not recognised by the UK who claim that it falls within their territorial waters.

Regards.

[AlecWest]

Sealand is not recognised by the UK who claim that it falls within their territorial waters.

Regards.

Actually, I don't think Sealand is recognized by anybody (grin) except Sealand. But, it would be interesting to see if the British Navy would raid Sealand and depose its self-appointed monarchy for the sake of placating the music industry. Or, perhaps the RIAA/IFPI could buy a mothballed battleship and declare corporate war on them.

[shelbyGT]

So sealand is the UK's Taiwan?

[AlecWest]

So sealand is the UK's Taiwan?

Taiwan is actually recognized as a country by other countries. Sealand is not. However, they have claimed defacto recognition when they were visited by a German diplomat. Still, HavenCo has been in operation for five years without being invaded (grin). But, the RIAA/IFPI could hire "mercs" to go in and destabilize the platform with underwater charges if they got uppity.

[jntaylor63]

The service is great. CHEAP music (as it should be) and no DMR. I set for the highest MP3 setting, down load and enjoy.

I do feel that sooner or later, some Russian govt offical will get a nice "gift" from the RIAA and it will be off-line.

[adam]

I am sorry for splitting hairs but the thread title is flat out wrong. "Legality" involves both criminal as well as civil laws. Even assuming this is clearly not a violation of any criminal law, if they violated either the US or Russian Copyright Law then their acts are "illegal." A copyright infringement is illegal because it violates the respective provision of copyright law.

Tort is only one of many hundreds of civil legal theories and it has nothing to do with the allegations against AllOfMP3.com. Russia has copyright law and AllOfMP3.com's actions are clearly in violation IF they have not been paying all of their royalties, and that is exactly the IF that would be decided in a civil suit.

A prosecutor choosing not to file criminal charges has absolutely no legal effect. In most jurisdictions, if the defendant were later charged with that same crime they wouldn't even be able to ADMIT the prosecutor's prior refusal to file, into evidence. It has no legal bearing.

[AlecWest]

Adam,

You and I could be splitting hairs all day (grin). But, that's OK. I respect your opinions even though mine are different. But, there's one thing I'm sure you and I can both agree on ... that the AllOfMP3.com story is far from over. It will be interesting to watch the developments over the coming days, weeks, and months ... and I hope, for the sake of everyone involved, that a resolution can be set in stone. The sooner, the better. I hate iffy situations like this.

EDIT - The following editorial appeared on Silicon.com (an IT site in the UK) this morning:

Look to Russia

In the ongoing debate over how to enforce intellectual property rights on digital content, we have an interesting development from Russia.

According to Russian news reports, Moscow prosecutors will not press charges against AllofMP3.com, a website that sells copyrighted digital tunes for which the record labels say it does not have distribution rights.

Why? Because Russian copyright laws do not apply to digital media files such as MP3s, though they would cover physical media such as CDs and DVDs, says Russian news agency Tass.

The case could yet continue. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industries (IFPI), which has submitted a formal complaint about the site, has said it will pursue the case if Russian prosecutors do not.

But what's so interesting is the compromise position Russia is taking. Just as Moscow is located geographically between East and West, its intellectual property laws appear to also fall between the strict enforcement advocated by Europe and the US and the more lax approach to piracy in Asian countries such as China.

As digital media is so easily copied and shared across geographical borders via the internet, law enforcement will continue to struggle to locate and prosecute copyright infringers.

And in the end it may well be this sort of creative or compromise solution that rules the day.

And, this was the reader comment I posted there:

I agree with your assessment that there is definitely a need for a creative or compromise position. On one hand, I think it's wrong for intellectual property owners to stifle release of their property in the digital realm. On the other hand, intellectual property owners deserve just compensation for release of their property.

The problem may not be AllOfMP3.com itself but the level of compensation to copyright owners which seems frightfully low. If we can get beyond the "my way or the highway" approach championed by the music industry and begin to discuss the real issue ... just compensation ... copyright owners and consumers alike would be best served.