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Russian Court Acquits allofmp3.com Owner
An anonymous reader writes "Denis Kvasov, former owner of the music download website allofmp3.com, has been acquitted of violating intellectual property laws in a Moscow court. The court cited insufficient evidence of criminal activity — a question of fact — without touching the question of law of whether the site's activities (had they been proven by the prosecution) actually violated Russian copyright law. The trial's presiding judge said, 'I want to draw particular attention to the sloppy job done by prosecutors in collecting and analyzing the facts.' According to the Moscow Times, though, the allofmp3.com case is far from over. Two more criminal trials are scheduled to take place: one against Vladimir Mamotin, the media director of MediaServices, the parent company of allofmp3.com, and another against the company itself."
Really, I had not expected this!
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
Its not the prosecutor's fault- they were taught by RIAA lawyers.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Sorry, but this is music, therefore the RIAA.
Whoah, whoah.. careful now.
It's bad enough the organization thinks that music == RIAA, don't tell me you've been infected, too!
[DISCLAIMER: This post is a work of satire and should not be misconstrued as a holy text upon which to base a religion.]
Russia needed this suit to proceed only because they did not want it to reflect badly on their chances to get to WTO. Court gave it a try, it was a formality. Case closed, road clear.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Well it does in a way. Under common understanding in Russia of existing IP laws it is not at all clear that AllOfMP3 is breaking current law. There are changes planned which will close some loopholes and perhaps bring Russia more into line with some other countries, including America, but currently those changes are not yet in force. However, to obtain a prosecution under existing law the evidence needs to be collected and analysed under the law that is extant, and not the law that some might wish was in place, and which will be from next year. That is where the prosecution seems to have fallen down, according to a radio broadcast that I have listened to. The prosecution is quoting international agreements but the defence is using existing Russian law. As you are probably aware from the Litvinenko case, Russia is keen not to have its own laws be dictated by international agreements (although the Litvinenko is considerably more complicated and not simply a conflict of internal and international law). The judge wished to have the prosecution clearly show that, in this instance, international agreements should take precedence over national law. They failed to do so. This also explains the different claims that are made in the FA.
Have a look at soylentnews.org for a different view
It's Russia we're talking about here. More corrupt than a NBA Basketball game. The last line of the article should also say "two more criminal trial dismissals are scheduled..."
It's Russia we're talking about here. A country that doesn't have the same rules and regulations that the United States' has and just because the government here (because of pressure from the industry here) is pressuring Russia to go against its own laws, doesn't mean it will happen.
Whether or not what allofmp3 broke American rules does not necessarily mean that it broke Russian rules. As long as those people stay out of the US, they'll be fine. Now, whether Americans broke the rules of the United States by using allofmp3 (and they probably did regardless of the reasons allofmp3 alluded to on their site) is another story.
And that last "A" stands for America, so they have no (legitimate) influence outside of the US
Huh? That doesn't make sense, it's just part of the name. You can call your organization the American Association for the Advancement of Americans if you wanted, but that doesn't mean you're not allowed to operate your organization elsewhere in the world.
The RIAA are a Trade Group and so have no real 'jurisdiction' ANYWHERE in the context of law enforcement, they only have the ability to legally represent their 'customers' (labels and paying members within the trade), as agreed by their customers. (Jurisdiction being the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters within a defined area of responsibility.)
I don't see anything stopping this organisation conducting business outside the USA though they're are other trade organizations who have taken on that task such as the IFPI to do their bidding internationally. Also many countries appear to have their own Recording Label industry group which appear to have similar roles.
But don't mistake their name implying they only operate inside the USA, and its certainly recognized they influence the IFPI, AND the US Govt who were kind enough to put conditions on the entry of Russia into the WTO with regards to allofmp3.com. That IS international Influence.
Oh, and before I go, I must mention I think the RIAA are a bunch of scum sucking bottom feeders. Trade industry groups should be to the benefit of the people they represent, not their detriment.
It was far from the first ISR post in the thread. This one came at 12:27pm, a full 16 minutes earlier.
d =20250743
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=271453&ci
No less than four other ISR posts were also made before the one you're replying to, making it the sixth (and by that point, extremely redundant).
>Russia is keen not to have its own laws be dictated by international agreements (
.... or else.
Most countries are too.
Well, most countries of the G8, the others ones can be bullied, bought and pressured into accepting.
You know, just like the US has been doing to get a get-out-of-International-Court card by having small countries sign on the dotted line
Will the US ever allow its citizen to be tried in an international court? No.
So please let me defecate over any and all international agreements excuses you bring up.
International law is totatlly meaningless since it is subjective, political and randomly enforced.
Under our system of justice, if someone is under duress when they are signing an agreement, it can be rendered void.
International agreements are often signed under threats, blackmail and pressure, I dont see why the same logic doesnt apply.
Heck no, I like his logic!
I'm gonna try it out, as a matter of fact. See, I'm in the USA and there's this BP (British Petroleum) filling station down the street.... =P
Incidentally, I'd like to respond to what the GP said about the RIAA having "no (legitimate) influence outside of the US":
Yeah, "legitimate" is the operative word there. They don't have "legitimate" influence inside the US either, but they still have influence.
Just then the floating disembodied head of Colonel Sanders started yelling Everything You Know Is Wrong!-Weird Al
ISR jokes are old. By now (even more so given this story) everyone should have upgraded to "In RIAA America" jokes.
It seems the Russian courts aren't any different than the US courts. The judges in the US courts (particularly the higher courts) routinely look for ways to dismiss cases on technicalities like this rather than actually having to decide something. Who would've thought?
It still so weird to read about the new Russian court system. I always just figured the Russian court system was a guy named Yuri with an AK-47.
I think this quote sums up the problem getting a judgment against allofmp3. The argument seems to be something like "although we cannot show it is illegal according to russian law, we think it is wrong, and it has to be stopped."
But allofmp3 is legal because of the compulsory license system in the russian copyright law. And such a compulsory copyright license system is legal according to all relevant international treaties, including all the WIPO and WTO treaties.
In the US, a similar compulsory copyright license system is currently being abused by RIAA and SoundExchange to kill internet radio.