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In an agreement signed earlier this month but only now made public, Russia has committed to taking action against intellectual property 'piracy' on a number of fronts, including the Internet and disc counterfeiting.

The intellectual property rights (IPR) agreement forms apart of a bilateral market access agreement between the two countries that will hasten Russian membership of the World Trade Organisation. US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, under pressure from the music and movie industries, had made action against piracy a prerequisite of membership.

The 'Action on Critical IPR Issues' document commits Russia to 'the objective of shutting down websites that permit illegal distribution of music and other copyright works' and though it specifically names AllofMP3, other sites that operate along similar lines will be targeted. The Russian government is aiming to have new laws in place by 1 June, 2007 to prevent collecting societies that license such sites from doing so without the consent of the copyright holders.

The government also intends to 'permanently closing down production of optical media containing pirated and counterfeit material'. Measures will include terminating existing and refusing new leases for optical media factories, regular inspections of licensed plants and warehouses, the location and closure of unlicensed operations and criminal sanctions where there is evidence of commercial counterfeiting.

Shwab said that the agreement is essential to Russia's own growth and development.

'This is a

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strong and far-reaching commercial agreement that meets the high standards of President Bush's market-opening trade agenda and moves Russia closer to full integration into the global, rules-based trading system,' she said. 'Russia has become an increasingly important destination for American agricultural goods, a range of services, and manufactured products - and as Russia's market opens further as a result of its WTO membership, its importance will only grow.'

As part of the overall market access agreement, Russia has also committed to participation in the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and will scrap import duties on IT products such as computers and semiconductor within three years.

AllofMP3's parent company, Mediaservices's fight to preserve its low-price downloads service seemed destined to fail just as soon as it became known that the US was applying high-level pressure to get it closed down. The pressure increased when Visa and Mastercard stopped processing credit card payments to the site. Still, Vadim Mamotin, deputy general of AllofMP3, argued this week that, in all likelihood, US-based purchases from the site are legal and again offered to remove music if the copyright holders request it to do so.

'If the RIAA had done its homework, it would have discovered that even under US law, consumers apparently have a legal basis to purchase music from AllofMP3,' Mamotin said. 'There is absolutely no legal basis for the campaign against AllofMP3.'

He added that it was 'preposterous' of Mitch Bainwol, the chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to call AllofMP3 a pirate site.

'It is evident that Bainwol is deliberately trying to mischaracterise the site or considers those that pay fees to licensing societies to be thieves,' he said.

However his insistence just two days ago that the RIAA had failed to link two disparate issues - the business dispute with AllofMP3 and Russian WTO membership - was somewhat premature.