Rogue Russian download platform AllofMP3.com, which closed down earlier this month but which has seemingly relaunched as MP3Sparks, secured a court victory in Moscow this week regarding the decision made by credit card companies to not accept transactions on their behalf, essentially cutting off access to the service to a significant portion of their customers.
As much previously reported, AllofMP3.com caused controversy by selling major label music in non-DRMed MP3 formats at cheap prices. The format won it customers all over the world, but the record labels said the site was operating illegally, even though the company who owned it claimed they were operating within Russian copyright laws. Record labels in the US and Europe began lobbying politicians to call on the Russian authorities to take action, and the whole issue got tied in to discussions regarding Russia's entry into the World Trade Organisation.
But in the end AllofMP3.com's demise was secured without the Russian authorities when Visa and Mastercard announced it would no longer take transactions on the download platform's behalf, cutting off many of its customers' access to the service. Music fans could still buy vouchers from various regional agents or via eBay, but this was a less popular payment method, and when the UK record label trade body the BPI took legal action against one of the voucher sellers even that route became less easy to access.
AllofMP3.com owners Media Services argued that Rosbank Visa had no right to withdraw its credit card facilities just because the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry had accused their company of copyright violation. And this week the Moscow courts agreed, saying that it was for a court and not a credit card company or record industry trade body to decide whether AllofMP3.com was, in fact, guilty of copyright violation. As no court case had taken place AllofMP3.com could not be deemed to be operating illegally, and therefore the credit card company was obligated to provide transaction services to them.
It is unclear what the ruling will mean for the recently launched MP3Sparks, which is reportedly now accepting credit card payments in certain territories, though it is unclear if that is because of the court ruling or because 'MP3Sparks' is officially a new service. Whether a Russian court would be deemed to set a precedent elsewhere isn't certain, but it could be argued this ruling has taken a powerful weapon against rogue music services away from the likes of the IFPI, who can no longer lobby credit card firms to cut off those services' income streams.