(The Moscow Times via NewsEdge) It was created for fun, but the US is far from amused.
US Trade Representative Susan Schwab has singled out Russian music site www.allofmp3.com as a key stumbling block to Russia's ascension to the World Trade Organization.
The site's owners, however, say that they are having the last laugh.
'They are promoting us,' Vadim Mamotin, general director of Mediaservices, which operates the site, said.
He said the site was signing up thousands of new clients after the US criticism.
Schwab said Russia must shut down the site, which Washington considers to be one of the world's largest sources of pirated music, to get the US' blessing to enter the world trade body.
Moscow had hoped that Washington would sign off on its bid in July, but negotiations broke down.
With Schwab's remarks, it is clear that intellectual property rights is a major issue as well.
But neither Russia nor the US appears to have a crystal-clear case when it comes to www.allofmp3.com.
Set up by a handful of programmers in 2000, the site now has 5.5 million subscribers and is signing up 5,000 new users daily, Mamotin said.
He said the programmers conceived the site for their own use and had never expected it to become very popular.
The site charges $0.15 to $0.30 per song compared to about $1 per song on most music industry-sanctioned sites, including Apple's iTunes store.
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