Even after the closure of AllofMP3.com, the website is still making waves.
Note: This is an article I wrote that was published elsewhere first. It has been republished here for archival purposes
According to an article on CNET, Russian prosecutors wanted to put the owner, Denis Kvasov, behind bars. It seems that attempting to send him to jail proved futile, according to reports that are now surfacing. It’s these reports that aren’t sitting well with the IFPI.
According to the Reuters article, judge Yekaterina Sharapova said, “The prosecution did not succeed in presenting persuasive evidence of his involvement in infringing copyright law.”
In a related article in the Moscow Times, the judge also commented, “This is an unusual case, and prosecutors have to be careful in collecting evidence in connection with intellectual rights violations, I want to draw particular attention to the sloppy job done by prosecutors in collecting and analyzing the facts.”
So is AllofMP3.com’s site owner in the clear now? Not quite. “We are extremely disappointed that the court failed to convict Denis Kvasov today and expect the prosecutor to appeal,” Jo Oliver, IFPI vice president commented. “MediaServices operates in clear violation of Russia’s law and we expect this unfortunate decision will soon be reversed. This ruling in no way affects the illegality of allofmp3.com and similar services that reproduce and make available music without the consent of the artists, composers and record producers that created it.”
So even though the evidence was an issue according to one court, the fight isn’t over. The IFPI is planning on appealing the decision.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
