As mentioned in the Daily Dose of IP blog last month (link below), Denis Kvasov, the principal behind the now-disabled AllOfMP3 music website, was facing charges in Russia for massive copyright infringement. As reported in the Ars Technica article (link below), Kvasov was recently found not guilty of copyright infringement in Russia, in part because Russian copyright law was not amended to include references to digital downloads until sometime last year. Kvasov left the company behind AllOfMP3 (Mediaservices) in 2005, effectively shielding him from prosecution as until the Russian law was amended, and according to Ars Technica, AllOfMP3 “was apparently legal in Russia” up until the 2006 statutory revisions. As noted in my earlier DDIP post and the article below, the content and functionality of AllOfMP3.com appears to have swapped over to a new domain, MP3sparks.com, offering “identical” functionality to the prior and now defunct website. According to the Australian IT news article (link below), the current principal of Mediaservices, Vadim Mamotin, has “insisted” that “by paying royalties to a Russian licensing group, allofmp3.com was in compliance with Russian laws.” However, and according to that article, recording companies contend that the licensing group “never had the permission of music industry to collect and distribute royalties on its behalf.” At least two additional cases involving AllofMP3, including one against Vadim Mamotin, remain pending.

July 2007 DDIP Article: LINK
Ars Technica Article: LINK
Australian IT News Article: LINK