The US Trade Representative yesterday made specific reference to controversial music download website allofmp3.com in discussions regarding Russia's entry into the World Trade Organisation, telling reporters: "I have a hard time imagining Russia becoming a member of the WTO and having a website like that up and running that is so clearly a violation of everyone's intellectual property rights".
It's not the first time Trade Rep Susan Schwab has criticised allofmp3.com - she previously referred to it as the "poster child" for illegal music sales over the internet - but it is interesting to hear Schwab link the site specifically to Russia's ongoing WTO talks.
As you all know, Allofmp3.com offers major label music at a fraction of the price charged elsewhere, selling unprotected MP3 files at a rate per megabyte of data, rather than a rate per track. The site's owners claim it is a legal operation, operating under legitimate Russian licences. Record label trade bodies in the West, however, question that legitimacy, while stressing that even if the service is legally operating in Russia, it is not legally operating elsewhere in the world where its low-cost approach has proved popular with consumers.
While those trade bodies consider what legal action it can take against allofmp3.com - our very own BPI plans to sue them through the British courts - everyone recognises a quicker solution would be for Russian authorities to act on their behalf, but they have so far been reluctant to take action. Which is why any pressure that can be put on the Russian government as part of the ongoing WTO talks are important in helping the music business tackle the rogue download service.
Piracy and counterfeiting issues were one of the key areas that caused the most recent US / Russian talks on the latter's WTO membership to fail back in July, and Schwab reports that Russian president Vladimir Putin has since made some positive statements regarding tackling IP issues as the two countries work towards an end-of-October deadline for resolving such problems.