AllofMP3 Refutes RIAA’s Lawsuit In The US
AllofMP3, the embattled Russia-based online music store, has responded to the lawsuit filed earlier this month by the RIAA calling the RIAA’s move “unjustified.” AllofMP3 continues to claim that the site is legal under Russian law. In a press release on the website, AllofMP3 says, “certainly the labels are free to file any suit they wish, despite knowing full well that Allofmp3.com operates legally in Russia.”
AllofMP3.com sells non-DRM downloads and charges roughly one dollar for albums and only a few cents for individual songs. The U.S.-based iTunes Store on the other hand sells DRM downloads at ten dollars an album and one dollar for songs.
The RIAA’s lawsuit against Media Services, owner of AllofMP3, claims the website is an illegal service and infringes on copyrights owned by the RIAA’s members. The RIAA alleges 11 million songs have been “pirated†using AllofMP3.com.
The RIAA lawsuit seeks $150,000 in damages per violation, which puts the total at over $1.65 trillion, which, as some have already pointed out, is just slightly less than the Gross National Product of Great Britain.
Unfortunately for the RIAA, AllofMP3.com operates in Russia and for the moment appears to comply with Russian law. Thus, filing a lawsuit in New York court against AllofMP3 is pretty much an exercise in futility, which also might explain the ridiculous damages figure.
AllofMP3 claims it has complied with Russian law by forwarding all necessary rights fees to the Russian royalty collection firm, ROMS. Thus far there have been no lawsuits brought against AllofMP3 in Russia, though the U.S. has been pressuring Russian authorities to shut the site down, even dangling the the threat of not letting Russia join the WTO.
