"I have a hard time imagining Russia becoming a member of the WTO and having a Web site [AllofMP3.com] like that up and running that is so clearly a violation of everyone's intellectual property rights," said Susan Schwab, America's official trade representative last month.
A pile-driver to crack a nut? Not where the profits of the entertainment cartels, backed by the outgoing US administration, are concerned.
The Big Four Organized Music cartel's RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), "would like U.S. law to prevail over Russian law in Russia," says Vadim Mamotin, director general of Mediaservices, Allofmp3's parent company.
But, "the fact is that the sovereign rights of one nation can't be trampled on by an outside organization like the RIAA," he goes on. "And, although the RIAA tried in vain to link two disparate issues - the business dispute with AllofMP3 and the WTO matter - it was clearly a failed exercise insofar as they based the link on a misrepresentation about the illegality of AllofMP3."
Mamotin is referring to the fact the American government hopes it's finally come up with the means to smash Russia's AllofMP3.com on behalf of EMI (Britain), Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany) and the only US record label, Warner Music, using the World Trade Organization talks as the hammer.
But any hope he may have of separating the two are clearly dashed in an official Office of the November 19 United States Trade Representative document highlighting actions to be taken against AllofMP3.com, from a p2pnet comment post link.
"The United States and Russia have agreed on a binding blueprint for actions that Russia will take to address piracy and counterfeiting and improve protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR), both stated priorities of the Russian Government, starting immediately," says the USTR declaration, going on:
"This agreement sets the stage for further progress on IPR issues in Russia through the next phase of multilateral negotiations, during which the United States and other WTO members will examine Russia's IPR regime. This binding agreement is an integral part of the United States - Russia WTO bilateral market access agreement, and implementation of the commitments on IPR will be essential to completing the final multilateral negotiations on the overall accession package."
Americans can legally buy music from AllofMP3.com, says Mamotin, also stating it would cooperate with the Big Four by removing disputed songs so long as, "the copyright holders request such action and can prove they own the rights".
But, "For months, AllofMP3 has stated the company will comply with the request from any copyright holder to remove any music from the site," says the USTR document. "However, the company has not heard from the Russian Licensing Societies or the record labels. Perhaps, opt-out requests are not being made because the record labels can't clear the rights."
Under Fighting Internet Piracy, "The United States and Russia agreed on the objective of shutting down websites that permit illegal distribution of music and other copyright works," says the paper, specifically naming AllofMP3.com, "as an example of such a website".
