Public Servant Lifestyle

The British recorded music industry is urging Foreign Secretary the Rt. Hon Margaret Beckett MP to raise the issue of pirate music site AllofMP3.com with the Russian government and the other G8 nations.

Peter Jamieson, chairman of UK music trade association the BPI, wrote to Mrs Beckett, drawing her attention to the BPI's ongoing legal action against the Russian-based AllofMP3.com. The BPI has already been given leave by the High Court to sue AllofMP3.com even though it is based outside the UK.

He writes: "This website is doubly damaging because it encourages consumers to believe that royalties are paid to artists and record companies. In fact, no such arrangements are in place with British rightsholders (nor with those of any other nations as far as we can tell)."

He goes on to say: "We therefore ask the government to raise the issue of AllofMP3.com directly with President Putin, and to urge the Russian Government to take action against the operators of the site by insisting that it is removed from the internet."

"President Putin has clearly stated his commitment to protecting intellectual property rights, making the following statement in his annual address to the Federal Assembly earlier this year: "Reliable protection of intellectual property rights remains an essential condition for developing new technology. We must guarantee the protection of copyright within our country – this is also our duty to our foreign partners. And we must also ensure greater protection for the interests of Russian copyright holders abroad.”

"We would like the UK government to call on President Putin to honour this ‘duty’ to Russia’s foreign partners, by taking action against a Russian website that is violating international intellectual property law.

Touchstone Issue

"I hope that the UK government will be able to raise this issue at the G8 Summit, and help reinforce the importance of international collaboration in tackling the issue of piracy which threatens not just the music industry, but all of the UK ’s creative sector."

Explaining the reasoning behind the letter to Mrs Beckett, Jamieson said, “AllofMP3.com is a touchstone issue for everyone concerned with the development of a modern copyright framework in Russia . It is unacceptable that this site is supplying copyright music to people in the UK without the permission of or payment to the UK copyright owners, and even worse leads people to believe that copyright owners are being paid. The G8 Summit is a great opportunity for the UK government to raise this issue and support the UK music industry.”

A communiqué issued from the G8 summit in St Petersburg (July 16) pledged to "give priority to promoting and upholding laws, regulations and/or procedures to strengthen intellectual property enforcement, raising awareness in civil society and in the business community of the legal ways to protect and enforce intellectual property rights and of the threats of piracy and counterfeiting..."

The BPI said the communique showed the increasing importance of intellectual property issues on the international agenda.

Legal Framework

The G8 countries - the UK, Russia, the US, France, Japan, Germany, Canada and Italy - committed themselves to a series of action points, including:

Examining how to strengthen the international legal framework on intellectual property law enforcement;

Each G8 nation to set up a website outlining their laws on intellectual property and their enforcement regime;

Commissioning the OECD to compile a report outlining the costs and damage caused by piracy and counterfeiting.

BPI chairman Peter Jamieson said, "In an increasingly global market place and with the phenomenal rise of the internet, intellectual property law enforcement increasingly needs to take place at an international level. That's why we welcome the priority given to piracy and counterfeiting by the G8 countries. Digital technology and globalisation pose real challenges to IP industries like music and we will continue to work very closely with our international federation, the IFPI, to highlight these issues."

Read the full text of the G8 communiqué here.

The BPI is the British record industry's trade association. Its membership comprises hundreds of record companies - including all four 'major' companies and hundreds of independents - as well as manufacturers, distributors and music publishers.

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