Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz
RIAA wants their members to get paid for what they own, their intellectual property being used by the masses.
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The question is, whether the artists/producers individually own the rights to this music, or whether the recording industry at large collectively owns it. Russian intellectual property law is its own beast, and consequently, the North American concepts of ownership aren't necessarily applicable there. Russian law currently recognizes group ownership and group licencing for conventional radio broadcasts (meaning individual songs don't need to be licenced), and allofmp3.com tried to extend that model to downloadable content. It's for the Russians to decide whether that conforms with their law.
Also, damages of $150 000 per download are simply stupid. How are the plaintiffs proposing to prove that each of 11 million downloads caused those damages, especially when they themselves licence the very same songs over other services for less than a dollar apiece? What court would offer punitive damages in that amount, when it is obviously beyond the means of the defendant's nation to cover the sum of the damages?