Moscow (Russia) - In the biggest case of its kind to make it all the way through the court trial process, the man who owned and operated allofmp3.com has been acquitted of all charges.

Allofmp3.com allowed users to pay a nominal fee to be able to download straight MP3 files of songs that were not officially licensed by the copyright owners.  The pricing model was three cents for every megabyte of music.  Denis Kvasov, owner of allofmp3.com's parent company MediaServices, was charged with copyright infringement.  After a trial, however, his name has been cleared.

Entertainment strongholds including Universal, Time Warner, and EMI Music became upset as the site gained notoriety and pressed for legal action.  It was able to operate for years without trouble because the site was hosted in Russia.  However, the country has recently begun acting stricter against piracy, attributed to its desire to enter the World Trade Organization.  A suit finally made its way to the Russian legal system by an international trade organization.

Reuters quoted judge Yekaterina Sharapova as saying, "The prosecution did not succeed in presenting persuasive evidence of his involvement in infringing copyright law."

A representative for the plaintiff, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said, "We are disappointed with the verdict and will appeal."

Kvasov argued that he was within the bounds of the law because he paid a percent of all the money he earned to a Russian group called ROMS, which collects and distributes fees and royalties for intellectual property owners.

Allofmp3.com fizzled out in July, mainly as a result of global credit card companies declining any transactions to the site.

Copyright

Aug 16, 2007 12:36     

The law did a great ruling as doing such things is against the law
Thato report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

AllofMP3.com is now MP3Sparks.com

Aug 16, 2007 12:47     

What they don't say is that credit card companies declining transactions had nothing to do with it. Russia was pressured to close the site as a condition to entering the WTO. In reality, AllOfMP3.com just changed their name to MP3Sparks.com, with all accounts intact. Hey, if Russian law says they're legal, then it's legal. I see no point in judging them by American laws and saying it's wrong.
Elvis Presley report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Within the law

Aug 16, 2007 12:56     

It was a great ruling, his name was cleared. That is why the IFPI was disapointed and going to appeal. He's not in the United States but in Russia. As long as he is within Russian laws he's ok and he was as far as the judge was concerned. Doesn't really matter, they still got him by cutting off his finances. Maybe he should go after thoses companies for damages.
Sean report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Others....

Aug 16, 2007 14:41     

There are other good Russian MP3 sites. I laugh at people who spend money on iTunes and other US sites...they're getting ripped off big time and for DRM music, lol.
John Doe report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

us laws in russia?

Aug 17, 2007 08:17     

if US laws were to mean something in russia, ill sue americans under laws of congo as they're infringing the rules of the southern q'ythala tribe and yes, i made that tribe up ;P
nke report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

yay for communism!

Aug 17, 2007 08:25     

seriously, if it wasn't for the revolution that transformed that countries future towards communism, we wouldn't be downloading MP3s for a fraction of a fraction of the cost!
sam report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

I love those sites

Aug 17, 2007 09:48     

I love those sited and recommend them to everybody You getting high bitrate files without stupid DRM for fraction of price A
music lover report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Elvis Presley - MP3Sparks accounts intact?

Aug 21, 2007 02:01     

I had an allofmp3 account which still had money in it. When I went to login at mp3sparks with the same user name then it said no account was registered. Did you have to re-register with them? I figure I lost my money though. Do you know anybody who had money that automatically transferred over to mp3sparks?
MusicMan report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0