Mosnews.com is reporting that Russia has toughened its internet piracy laws. It also says that operators of illegal music sites will have two years to registers with Russian authorities to acquire licences for the music they’re distributing.
I’m not sure whether allofmp3 will be affected by this or not, but presumably if it is it means it will be able to keep running for another two years as it has been doing.
Russia, the largest and richest nation outside the World Trade Organisation (WTO), is being pushed towards tighter intellectual property controls as a condition of future membership. Russia is also being blocked from entry over the high tariffs it places on foreign airlines to protect it’s own airline industry. Russia is also threatening to block imports of meats from the USA if it continues to try to block Russia from joining the WTO. Some are claiming that Russia won’t be joining the WTO in 2006 and maybe not in 2007 either, it has already been negotiating for 13 years so it doesn’t look like there’ll be any rush to shut down Allofmp3 just yet.
Allofmp3 says that it is perfectly legal in Russia and pays royalty fees although the recording industry denies this. This hasn’t stopped the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) from trying to sue the site.